And The Truth
by SamicaWrites
Summary: It is 2014 in Beacon Hills, Paige & Derek have lasted through 4 years of secrets & deceit. Now that Scott & his pack are in their second to last year of high school they've had their share of drama & action, but nothing that has happened could have prepare the pack for the metaphorical tsunami that is headed their way. Paige & Derek Fic!
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

 **Hello everyone! This is my first Teen wolf Fic, I loved in 3x08 when we got to see Derek's past. I really wanted to read fics about Derek and Paige present day or back in high school, but there isn't a lot out there so I decided to write my own. All the main characters and where they are in life is set around season 3, HOWEVER, I am mixing up the time lines of character (deaths and exits) in the show to work with my story.**

 **I really hope you all like it, I'm very excited for you to read it! :)**

 **Chapter 1**

"This is stupid."

"Get in the car."

This is how Derek and Paige were spending their Tuesday night, well considering that the sun was rising, it was Wednesday morning.

Paige was covered head to toe in mud, her shirt was ripped up the side, and Derek could still smell the blood that was drying around her wound.

But before we get into that I should probably catch you up on what you've missed.

No Paige didn't survive Ennis's bite and become a she wolf; in fact Paige didn't get bitten at all. It is 2014 in Beacon Hills and Scott, Stiles, Lydia and Malia were in their Jr year, just praying to make it to spring break so they could stop trying to balance school with their "extra circulars".

On the Paige and Derek front, they had been together since their freshmen year of high school, except for their 2 year long break between grade 11 and 12. Derek's family had been killed in a fire, the ones who weren't killed scattered, and Derek had been pray to Kate Argent at the time, unknowingly destroying his family and his relationship.

During those two years Derek was all over the place, he meet up with his sister Cora, who he thought had perished in the house fire with everyone else. The two of them tracked down a couple other family members but there were not many left. When those two years were up Derek made his way back to Beacon Hills, with only one person on his mind, Paige.

After Derek left, Paige had been pissed, she'd learned about his family's secret only a short few weeks before everything went to hell. He'd left her confused, in need of answers and feeling betrayed.

Then she started dating Tyler, they had attended the same classes in the same school since kindergarten, he was really the only guy who hadn't been scared off by Derek Hale.

Even when Derek came back to California a couple months shy of graduation, Tyler and Paige's relationship lasted longer than any of the school bets thought they would. They made it a couple weeks into summer until the night of the end of year carnival where Derek pulled a Noah from The notebook and got his Allie back.

Paige went on with her plans to go to Berkeley in the Fall, the University was only a couple hours from Beacon Hills and her and Derek made it work.

Now, being halfway through her second year of Uni Paige was excited to get back to Beacon hills for a couple of weeks and hang out with the pack. She knew last year was rough for them, the alpha pack had come into town and really messed everything up, but now it seemed like everyone was on good terms with each other, or at least that is what Derek had told her.

Being home for the break was going to do her good, how much trouble could she get herself into in just 3 weeks.

.

Paige had been late getting out of her last midterm and rushed to pack up the rest of her room. She was home for a full 3 weeks and knew that she'd end up wanting something she'd left behind, so just in case she was packing up almost everything.

"Shit." She muttered to herself.

Catching a glimpse of the clock on the wall she was 40 minutes behind schedule, Derek had text her the night before to see when she'd be getting on the road. He was always early where she always seemed to somehow fall behind schedule.

Grabbing the rest of her things Paige ran out the door, baggy sweater falling over her yoga shorts, wavy hair a mess. She had lucked out as a sophomore, getting a parking spot only a block away from her dorm.

When she burst through the doors to her building Paige stopped in her tracks, at the end of the long walkway was Derek Hale leaning against his black camaro.

"I thought I told you I was fine to drive myself." Paige spoke as if he were right in front of her, she knew he could hear her.

Black shades covered the alphas eyes, but Paige swore she saw them flash when he raised a single dark eyebrow.

Struggling, Paige shuffled forward with her arms full of supplies, standing in front of Derek she dropped the bags at his feet separating them.

"And I told you, I didn't like you driving through the mountains by yourself."

Paige crossed her arms, "I broke down one time."

"Because?" He was teasing her, knowing he'd won whatever battle they were having.

"It's mostly downhill; I thought I could just coast to the bottom."

Derek smirked; he'd never forget when she had called him up at 3:26 in the morning to tell him her car ran out of gas in the cliffs. He had asked her what had happened; it took a while before she finally admitted to him that she'd driven past a gas station knowing she was almost out of gas because she didn't want to stop in the dark.

He'd laughed at her though the speaker but quickly stopped to reprimand her, it wasn't safe to drive through the cliffs at night. Not just because of the 300 ft drops, but also because there are rouge wolves residing over that territory prowling around at night.

"You seriously didn't have to drive all the way out here; I know you're busy with Scott."

"He doesn't kiss at well as you."

Raising her eyebrow Paige leaned into Derek over her discarded duffle bags, "No but Stiles sure does."

Paige's lips met Derek's but their kiss only lasted three seconds before he pulled back, shaking his head at her comment.

"Just get your ass in the car."

Smiling Paige complied, Derek grabbing her bags and jammed them into the trunk.

"You forget to tell me your moving back or something?"

"I didn't want to forget anything, three weeks is a long time."

Putting his car in gear Derek pulled onto the main road toward home.

"SO what have I missed?"

The remainder of their trip they spent catching up, Paige had put herself on a strict no outside contact policy for the two weeks of her midterm exams. That didn't mean Derek hadn't forced her to break her silence by texting and threatening that if she didn't pick up the phone he'd "drive up there".

"Argent is back."

Paige froze, she really hated Alison and her family but Scott's girlfriend, well ex at the time, had died. When that had happened Paige couldn't help but feel sad for the group.

Kate argent and Alison's father, Chris Argent were a different story. When Kate had "stolen" and "warded" Derek against her back in high school, Kate didn't just help break her heart, she physically hurt her too.

Not that Derek needed any help hating Kate when he returned, but Paige had never told him what she had done to her.

(Flashback)

Paige was 17 at the time, Derek had been gone for half a year Kate disappearing along with him. She and Tyler had been dating for two months, Paige felt herself having small happy moments with him, but her thoughts always drifted to Derek, she wondered where he was and if he was with that bitch Argent.

She'd just finished helping Deaton give out one of the annual cat vaccinations, as you may have guessed Scott had taken Paige's stop when she'd gone to Uni. Her arms were covered in little scratches and all she wanted to do was get home and take a nice long sleep.

"I see you're rolling around with a different kind of animal these days."

Paige froze in the middle of crossing the street; if she was back did that mean he was too. Heart beating in her chest Paige turned toward the blonde, the smirk on her face was cruel.

"And you're the same old bitch you've always been, what do you want?"

"Derek."

Paige pursed her lips, "I don't know where he is."

"Oh I know, I had his trail for a while, but that sister of his knows a thing or two about keeping herself hidden. So that just leaves you."

"What about me?"

Kate came into the light then, it was easy to see the purple bruises under her eyes from lack of sleep. Her hair a little dishevelled but somehow she still managed to look better than Paige on her best day.

"He may have left but there is something I know about Hale, he's loyal." Paige rolled her eyes, "If he knew you were in trouble he'd come running back here to save you."

"Well you are out of luck cause-"

In that moment the hunter pulled out a trank gun from behind her back shooting Paige twice, once in the neck and once in the chest. Paige barely managed to raise her hand to pull the dart out before she was collapsing onto the yellow paint that divided the road.

The darts that Kate used were for taking down large animals, like a wolf, much to her displeasure Paige didn't wake until the next night.

"Finally!" Kate huffed, her patience had grown paper thin.

The Argents had a locked cellar where the elders torture any wolf who'd taken a human life. There hadn't been a wolf down there for ages so Kate knew she wouldn't be interrupted.

Paige felt the stiffness in her shoulders and the numb tingle of her limbs falling asleep, looking up she knew why. Kate had bound her wrist and ankles to some kind of chain link fence, cold metal keeping her from relieving her pain.

"Now this is creative."

Paige knew she wasn't as brave as she sounded, she just hoped she could fake it enough to convince Kate. Paige already knew the hunter was crazy but now she was starting to think she was certifiably insane!

"There are a lot of things you don't know about me."

Paige snorted. "I doubt that, you don't strike me as someone who has a whole lot of substance."

That got Kate angry, striking out she delivered a blow to Paige's cheek.

 _Fuck,_ Paige thought to herself, she'd been awake for less than five minutes and she was already bleeding.

"I don't think you're in a position to be throwing around insults, do you?"

Instead of responding, Paige answered Kate's question with a question.

"Do you really think Derek's coming back just because you have me tied up like some kinky torture porno?"

Kate smiled. "What makes you think he won't?"

"That fact that we are no longer dating should be enough indication."

The words tasted like poison on Kate's tongue, "I think your underestimating his feelings."

"I think you don't know him as well as you think you do." Paige spat back.

"Maybe not," Kate shrugged, "but you want to know what I do know? I know how to make time down here fly for me, you on the other hand will feel like you're in an eternal hell."

With a furrowed brow Paige started to ask what Kate meant by that when the hunter pulled out a battery pack, followed by a couple cabals.

Kate had Paige hidden away in that basement for over a week, as the young girl suspected Derek never showed. Her family had issued a search, Paige's photo was all over the local news, somewhere between the fifth day Kate got wind of Derek and took off leaving Paige chained in the basement; finally on the eighth day Chris made his way into the basement, noticing the door was left ajar he investigated.

He untied Paige, set her up in one of their guest bedrooms, you must be thinking that was really nice of him, well it wasn't. Paige was as much a prisoner in the comfy room as she was in the cold basement.

Argent feed her and nursed her back to health, when she looked less raged he drove her to a bus station two towns over and bought her a bus ticket back to Beacon Hills. He threatened her and come up with a cover story to tell the police.

Just wanting to get the hell away from the Argent family Paige complied; the driver had recognised her getting on the bus and notified the authorities.

As planned Paige told her parents that she and Tyler had a fight, that she went to meet up with Derek and spend the weekend that turned into a week. She told them she was sorry and that she was stupid for going up there, that she would never see him again.

They both held her to that promise, which is why when her and Derek got back together they were less than cordial toward him then they were before. When Derek had asked her why, Paige had chalked it up to normal parental behaviour disapproving of their young daughter's relationships.

Kate hadn't come back to Beacon Hills since, and the rest of the Argent family had left her alone. They moved on and so had Paige, telling Derek would bring nothing but bad things.

(End of Flashback)

Derek took his eyes off the road to take in Paige; she'd gone ridged in her seat even though she succeeded at keeping her face natural.

"I thought Chris moved away after Alison's death?"

Paige kept her eyes on the road, "I think he went to the desert his moms side of the family is out there, he got back to town a couple days ago-"

"And?"

Here it was, the other metaphorical shoe was about to drop.

"He brought his sister with him."

There is was! After four years Kate Argent had returned to Beacon Hills, just in time for spring break.

"She's the real reason you picked me up isn't she." Now Paige got it.

Protective was in Derek's nature, as a wolf and as a man, but this made a lot more sense. They had already talked about the rouge wolves and Paige had avoided the area except for a few cliff climbing adventures with some of her friends, which she'd neglected to tell him about.

He came to get her because he was avoiding Kate.

"No she's not the reason."

Paige knew that was bull, Derek was pissed that he'd let Kate manipulate him and he was going to avoid her at all costs to prevent himself from killing her, and in return avoiding the sting of Chris Argent's knife.

"You're such a scaredy wolf."

Derek rolled his eyes back to the road, his hand reaching out and turning up the radio; Chuckling under her break Paige relaxed back in her seat.

 _Spring break bitches,_ She should have gone to Miami with her friends, that would have been a lot less eventful than her break was about to be.

The land marks outside the car started looking more and more familiar, until they speed past a light blue sign that read 'WELCOM TO BEACON HILLS'.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

 **I know one of the major parts about writing for this site is timing. For example this story could have been very popular back during season 3 when the flashback episode had come out. But back then even though I was writing I never thought I would write a TW FF but here I am, I'm hoping as this show gets new fans they will find and enjoy this fic. THANK YOU, to those who are taking their time to reading this chapter, enjoy.**

"I like the new digs."

Paige walked up the fire escape outside of the old building, the last time Paige had been home Derek and his pack were living in an abandoned subway station. This loft had a lot more space, a lot of work out gear, a couch and a table and some chairs, and the spiral stair case led to a small bedroom.

"It's quiet, out of the way."

Paige smiled, swinging around one of the pipes that ran from floor to ceiling.

"20 20 surveillance."

The white box next to the door glowing different colors, Paige couldn't help but be worried.

"After that alpha pack came into town, I wanted to make sure this place was safe."

"For me?"

Derek sat down on the brown leather couch that had been left by previous tenants.

"For all of us, the safest place you could have been was school."

Paige raised her hands in surrender, walking slowly over to him.

"I stayed put like I was told."

"For once." He was serious but Derek kept his tone teasing.

Holding his shoulders for support Paige straddled his legs, sitting on his thighs. "You know I'm not one for following directions."

"I've noticed." His tone wasn't amused anymore.

That was one of the things the couple had always fought about over the years. Paige neglecting to follow instructions when Derek put boundaries in place to keep her from getting hurt. Back in high school before she knew his secret, she wasn't one to follow rules and do what she was told if the reason behind the command wasn't good enough.

The couple groaned, Derek had taken hold of her thighs to pulled her along him until her chest was pressed to his.

"Well what are ya gonna do." She shrugged. "We've got three weeks Hale, what do you want to do first?"

He smiled up at her, the position they were in pretty much spoke for itself. Their lips connected after a long four months apart. The shear electricity going through them was enough to get them tingling in all the right places.

The bare skin courtesy of Paige's off the shoulder sweater was where Derek's lips attacked next, Paige dropped her head to the side allowing her neck and shoulder to be smothered with sloppy kisses.

"I can't take the teasing." Paige whined bring his mouth back to hers.

His response was an evil chuckle, standing them both up he allowed her to peal his shirt off, but when she went for his pants he stopped her.

His hands did some unwrapping of their own, he got rid of her shirt and bra before unwrapping her lower half. Turning her by her hips, Derek sat back on the couch pulling Paige with him, each of her knees over his, exposed to the empty room.

"What do you think you're doing?" Paige tried to sound in control but her breathlessness gave her true feelings away.

"I like you like this."

"Naked and dripping?"

Derek couldn't stop his body's reaction to her words, his cock twitched and there was a low rumbling in his chest.

"Open and ready for me."

Slowly Derek's hand slipped from her knees, upper her thighs, avoiding Paige's center he cupped her breasts. Her head lulled against his shoulder, the smell of her arousal driving him mad.

After a couple minutes of playing Paige tired to close her legs feeling a little too vulnerable but Derek stopped her, his hands dropping to her thighs where his thumb rubbed soothing circles.

"I hate that, when ever you've been away too long it changes you." His voice matched the soothing movement of his hands.

You wouldn't think it by the way Paige isn't afraid to fire insults and play with an alpha, something most people wouldn't think about doing, except maybe Stilies. But Paige was really self conscious, she always had been, but it became worse after Derek had left her for Kate.

"Maybe you should pit a tent on the front lawn of the University, save ourselves the gas mileage." Paige tried to joke, to cover up the self doubt circling in her head.

"Relax." Derek let his fingers slowly travel back up Paige's thigh's but this time, one rested in the curve of her waist while the other ventured down and over her clit.

"AHH." Her body shook with the quick assault.

Derek's hand on her waist kept her body pressed to his, leaving little room for her to squirm around. The skin to skin contact was what they needed right now, they needed to reconnect after being separated for so long. Derek also felt the need to remind her that he didn't want anyone else, not Kate or Erica, her.

"If you give it to me I'll stop teasing." Derek whispered his promise in her ear.

Paige's lungs were gasping for air as his fingers worked her over, her body moving of its own accord. Pleading noises escaped her lips, her hands gripped tight to his wrists as she finally snapped and gave him what he wanted.

Derek brought a finger to his lips, licking her juices clean off as Paige watched, her body still trembling from her orgasm.

Gathering her in his arms, Derek carried her up stair to his bed where he could watch her come undone again and again.

Shedding his pants and boxers quickly, following Paige onto the bed, his arm muscles bulging as he held himself over her. Paige's smooth legs opened for him as he slipped inside, filling her to the hilt.

Moaning at how full she felt Paige looked up into Derek's warm eyes.

"I missed you." She said softly rising onto her elbows to kiss his lips.

The sun had set in the sky by the time the couple had finished "catching up" this body's satisfied, Paige's back pulled into Derek's front, his arms wrapped around her protectively.

"That's probably my mom." Paige noted hearing her phone go off for the eighth time.

"I told you, you should have said you were staying on campus over the break."

Paige rolled in his arms to face him, "You really think she would have fallen for that? Besides her finding out I'm home by seeing me in town would not go over well."

"Hiding out here is always an option."

Paige sat up, Derek's arms falling from her leaving the blanket to fall exposing her bare back.

"Please, you really want them to come knocking on your door?...I didn't think so."

Paige mistook his silence for submission but what she didn't realize was that he had gotten distracted by something else.

"When the hell did you get this?"

"What?" Twisting to try and see what Derek saw had the blanket fall from Paige entirely.

Along her lower back was an array of scrapes and bruises, Derek hadn't noticed them earlier which only made him angrier.

"They're new." Derek observed, the colors were too dark and bold to be healing.

"They don't hurt; I forgot they were there-Shit!"

Paige swore when one of Derek's fingers poked at the bigger bruise calling her bluff.

Using her phone going off again as an escape Paige pulled a shirt from Derek's dresser to cover herself up as she bounded down the stairs, Derek swiftly following calling her name.

"Don't you dare-"answer _your phone._ Derek thought balling his fists as he eyed Paige.

"Hi mom."

"Darling I thought you would have been here by now."

"I know I'm sorry it's getting so late, I decided to stop for something to eat; I didn't realize the time and how busy any of the road side dinners would be."

"Well I'm glad you're still coming down, I thought with you just getting out of the hospital you would have spent your break resting up." Paige face palmed, knowing that Derek had heard what her mom had said.

"I'm fine mom I promise, you and dad really didn't have to come up."

"You were in the ICU Paige, I don't like that you keep brushing this off like you getting attacked was nothing."

 _Son of a bi-"_ What the hell." Paige shouted whirling around on Derek.

He's snatched the phone right out of her hands and hung up on her mother, his nostrils flaring and his eyes glowed steal blue.

"Took the words right out of my mouth, you were in the ICU? When the hell were you attacked?"

"See this is why I didn't tell you, you blow little things way out of-"

"The ICU Paige!"

Paige hated being treated like an errant child, "I know Derek!"

"Woah, this doesn't look like a happy reunion."

"Get out!" Derek snapped, not even bother to look in Scott's direction.

"No you should stay; I need to get to my parents place." Paige broke Derek's penetrating glare to look at the door way.

Scott and a tall brunette stood in the entry way to the loft.

"No you need to explain to me what I just heard during that phone call."

Paige walked over to her pile of clothes by the couch and started redressing; smartly when she shrugged off Derek's shirt Scott looked away.

"Maybe if you didn't eardrop on other peoples phone calls you wouldn't hear things you're not supposed to."

"Seriously we can come back another time." The girl next to Scott said.

"You must be Malia, Stilies told me about you." Paige smiled ignoring the tension in the room.

"And you must be Paige." Malia smiled back.

"We'll have to catch up another time, right now I have to get home before my mother makes any more revealing phone calls. Can I have my phone back please?"

Paige turned with her hand out hitting Derek's chest as she did, he'd come to stand right behind her, a tactic he used when he was trying to intimidate.

The phone was held out of reach and Derek's eyes had yet to go back to their regular color. Scott watched the scene in surprise, in the time he'd known Derek he'd never seen him so protective over anything, except Paige.

"You don't have a car." The alpha growled.

"I'll walk it's not that far," He shook his head. "Or I'll take your car. Why can't you just trust me when I say I'm fine."

"How am I supposed to trust someone who lies to me about important things?"

"Like you don't keep things from me?"

Derek knew she was referring to before she knew he was a wolf, and when he'd been hurt badly in battle over and over again but never told her because it was "no big deal" and "would heal on its own".

"To keep you safe, yes."

"Fine! Going with that, I didn't tell you I was in the hospital because you driving two miles through cliffs and embedding yourself in the investigation wouldn't have been safe for you or the others involved."

"Ou she's got you there."

All eyes in the room flashed to Malia, who just shot them all a "what?" look.

"Obviously right now isn't the time to talk about this, I've got to get home and you have pack stuff to attend to." Trying and failing one more time to get her phone back Paige turned on her heels, grabbing the car keys on her way out. Derek's eyes warmed her, and not in a good way, even when she was safely out of the apartment his disapproving eyes seemed to be on her.

.

"Paige!" Her mom squealed running out of the house and toward her daughter.

"It's good to see you." Smiling Paige accepting her mom's warm embrace.

Not an hour ago she'd been at Derek's until he had to find out about her brief stay in the Berkeley ICU ward.

"That's not your car." Her dad observed from the porch.

 _Here we go._ "It's Derek's, he left me borrow it so I wouldn't have to walk from his place.

"Where is your car?"

"It's back at Berkeley, he surprised me at school. It was good I didn't have to drive myself though right, I know you guys worry about me."

Her dad mumbled something like. "We'd worry about you less if you weren't still associated with that criminal."

"Come inside we waited for you to eat." Her mother offered, wanting to bring the smile back to her daughters face.

"Dinner would be great mom."

Getting a hug from her father on the way in Paige was happy to be home, everything felt familiar.

Dinner was great; Paige told her parent all about her last two weeks of exams and which classes she still needed to take in order to get her degree. In turn her parents told her about their trip to Vegas and how they were thinking of buying some property out there.

When it got so late that everyone seemed to be fighting to stay away Paige retired to her old room, with promises to spend her whole day tomorrow with her parents.

"I thought you'd like your phone back."

Paige grabbed her chest and barely stopped herself from screaming, Derek was leaning beside her open bedroom window.

"This isn't high school; you can't just sneak though my window."

"Fine, then you can't run off when we're in the middle of a fight."

"I didn't run off, we both had things we had to deal with."

They were both whisper arguing at this point to keep from waking her parents.

"Fine."

Paige didn't know where to go from there, she knew if her boyfriend was anyone else she would have called them the second she could, but her boyfriend was Derek and he'd killed people for less.

"I'm not leaving here until you tell me what your mom was talking about."

She nodded, taking a seat on her bed and gesturing for him to do the same, he hesitated for a moment before complying.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"First, I think it's important for you to know that I'm 100% fine. Second, it's all in the past and after I tell you everything we aren't going to discuss it. Got it?"

Paige watched Derek work his jaw before he gave her a small nod.

"You remember my roommate Phoebe, she use to throw a lot of wild parties out of our dorm room, the RN always said she'd do something but she never did. One night this guy Mitchell, he'd been at a few of our parties before, and I even had English Lit with him. He was out of his head, he'd apparently stopped taking his meds and we started bumping into him more. He was getting a little too attached but I knew that he didn't have any family down here and I know what that's like, so I let him hang around, invited him back to the room a couple times.

.

Paige had just stumbled home from her night job at one of the many coffee shops around campus, her feet were tired and she was just looking forward to crashing. It wasn't until she'd gotten a couple feet away from her door that Paige realized there was someone sitting in front of it.

"Mitchell it's so late what are you doing here?"

"I need to talk to you."

Mitchell was shaking and his body was sweating profusely, his complexion was pale and from the dark circles under his eyes Paige guessed he wasn't getting much sleep.

"Everything okay?" Paige tried to multi task.

Pulling out her key to unlock the door, Mitchell's hand clamped down hard on her wrist; his grip only tightened when she tried to pull away.

"I said I needed to talk!"

"And I asked you if everything was okay."

Paige hoped if she stayed calm she could get Mitchell to calm down too, but his grip on her loosened. Only to be replaced when his hand slid up to her neck, his grip forcing her backward. Paige felt the doorknob bruise her at the shear speed she had been knocked back.

"You don't want to do this."

"I've been watching you-in class, You always ruffle your hair around leaving your shoulders exposed. I always wanted to know what your skin would smell like, Phoebe's skin smells like sour apples."

A scary thought over came Paige, "You didn't hurt her did you?"

He frowned at her, "You always told me how annoying she was that she always through parties while you were trying to study or finish a paper."

"Oh my god." Paige thought she was going to be sick. "Where is she?"

"My mother use to tuck me in at night, when she would she'd sing this song about bears in the woods. I listen to it all the time but no one can ever sing it the way she could."

Paige knew from experience that his mother had been killed in a drunk driving accident when Mitchell was only a couple years old, he'd been in the car and survived.

Thinking about his mother only seemed to make him angrier, his hand constricting the air Paige was trying to suck into her lungs.

"You look a lot like her, except your hair is longer. We can fix that though."

Reaching behind him Mitchell pulled out a pocket knife, his hand slipped from her neck and Paige tried to get out from between him and the wall but she didn't get a chance. His forearm came down on her collar bone knocking her head hard against the wall; Paige's sight blurred.

She tried to yell for help then but her voice cracked and wasn't as loud as she would have liked, not loud enough for anyone to hear her.

"Stay still I don't want to cut you."

Paige's struggling stopped immediately, her eyes following the moments of the knife. Using one hand to pull down her hand and the other to slice, Mitchell began cutting a couple inches off the end of her hair.

"Get away from her!" Nancy from down the hall yelled, she'd come out to use the bathroom and instead found a scene from some cheese horror movie.

Pulling away Mitchell pocketed the knife, moving swiftly down the hallway, Leaving Paige to stand on her own. Nancy tried to catch her in time but the lack of oxygen to her airway cause Paige to pass out, the back of her head cracking the doorknob on the way down.

.

"Nancy pushed the blue help button at the end of the hallway, the paramedics came and took me to the ICU ward, Mom and dad showed up the next day. I was out for a while and when I finally came too their faces were the first I saw. After another 24 hours on over watch I was allowed to go back to my dorm and I somehow convinced mom and dad that camping out on my floor wasn't an option. Thankfully Phoebe was okay, she helped me out until I felt 100%, turns out Mitchell had just borrowed some of her hand cream once, that's how he knew what It smelt like."

Derek shook his head, he'd bit his tongue though the whole story knowing that if he interrupted that she'd get annoyed and not finish.

"Did you have to go to the hearing?"

Paige leaned back confused, "What hearing?"

"You pressed charges right?"

She sighed, "No Derek I didn't."

He stood off her bed, pacing in front of her. "So he's just roaming the halls waiting to get his paws on any innocent-In three weeks I'm supposed to send you back to there, to him."

"Stop, he isn't some crazy psycho stalker killer. Mitchell went off his meds and yeah that was a mistake but I'm not sending him to jail for it."

"He assaulted you."

"I was the result of a bad judgment call. He's back on new medication and he's seeing his doctors, he's doing well."

Derek pulled at his hair, she was completely nuts.

"And you know that because you went to see him."

She nodded, "That, and he calls me every couple of days to apologies over and over again."

"That's barely a slap on the wrist." He growled.

"Where is your compassion?"

"It went out the window about the time I heard that some asshole knocked you around and put you in a coma!"

"Shh you are going to wake my parents; I never said I was in a coma, I said I was knocked out."

"But you easily could have been; getting your head knocked around like that could have resulted in some serious brain injury."

Paige remembered when she got back to her dorm, there was a head sized hole in the drywall where her head had been.

"If my condition had been that serious then you would have gotten a phone call."

Derek laughed, "You really think your parents would have called me?"

"No but Phoebe would have, or the on call nurse. Your name is in my emergency calls file, it's just under specific instructions to not call unless I'm dying."

He didn't seem to find that clearly as funny as she did by the sour look on his face.

"Turn around."

Not bothering to ask questions Paige stood from the bed and turned to face her closet. She felt Derek's fingers softly in her hair moving it aside; she realized that he was trying to get a look where her head had been hit.

There was still a small discoloration on her scalp that Derek could easily see in the dim light, he dropped her hair and stepped away when he was done.

"I bruise easy." Paige winked, "You know that."

Derek had always found pleasure in seeing his hidden hickeys on her inner thighs, the wolf in him liked that he had some mark on her; even if she complained about it.

Paige used the silence to change the direction of the conversation, "What did Scott and Malia want?"

"They wanted to tell me that there was another wolf in town."

"I thought most wolves avoided Beacon Hills because they knew your family resided here."

"They use too, now people are curious. With the apha pack recently here and the other weird things that go on, it's like it's drawing everyone and everything toward Beacon Hills."

"I wonder if that's where the name came from."

"Yes, because that's not weird or crazy."

Paige shrugged his comment off, "You never know. Do you know how the wolf is?"

"Theo James, Scott said he and Stiles went to school with him.

"Yeah he was, I remember when his sister died. His whole family was ripped apart by the town gossip, they eventually moved."

"Why don't I remember this?"

Paige thought back, "It was before we got together, And if you remember you were quite the self centered jerk back then."

"I don't know, I wasn't totally focused on myself."

"That's right, when you weren't too busy practicing basketball in the hallways and disturbing peoples music practice time, you were-"

"Trying to get into your pants?"

"I was going to say failing at math but..."

"I hate math." He grumbled, remembering the nights he'd stay up praying he didn't fail his exams.

"You know I always thought you liked me for my whit and sass."

Derek's lips were at the shell of her ear. "I like you in spite of those things."

Paige laughed pushing him away from her, but his hands remained on her hips keeping them connected.

"I wonder why after all this time he's decided to come back?"

"Not my problem, Scott's going to do some recon for us during the break."

"You trust him." Paige smiled; Derek had always had trust problems.

He rolled his eyes trying to hide a smile of his own. "It's hard not to, they won't leave me alone."

"They look up to you, it's like you have your own, wolf, coyote, banshee, Stiles fan base."

"I could do without that last one."

Paige scoffed, "You can pretend all you want, I know you and Stiles have some kind of bromance going. Who knows, if everything goes right in a couple years he could be your brother in law."

"What?"

"Please if Cora hadn't gotten sick and went back out west, her and Stiles totally would have hooked up." Derek didn't seem to agree. "You can deny it all you want but that boy is going to be family, even if he is just a cousin in law."

Derek rolled his eyes, "I'm leaving, you're giving me a headache."

Paige grabbed his shirt pulling him to her lips, when she was satisfied she let him go the way he came; watching him climb out her window gave her flash backs to when they first started dating.

.

"Please never leave again." Stiles ran to Paige, his hands wrapping around her waist. "He's such a sour wolf when you're gone."

"He's always a sour wolf." Paige joked back.

Derek just stood back arms crossed and watched this exchange take place.

"Yes but he's less grumpy with you around."

"Not by much." Scott mumbled loud enough for all to hear.

Derek shot him a look but other than that he knew to keep his mouth shut, he was less grumpy now that Paige was here.

"If you are referring to yesterday it's be resolved."

Hearing what his friend said Stiles perked up. "Yesterday? You went to see her yesterday, dude you promised you'd wait for me."

"Malia looked away guilty.

"You too." Her groaned, "This is grounds for divorce."

"Alright enough, tell me what you've got on Theo?"

You can always count on Derek to suck out the fun and get everyone to work. Paige gave Stiles one more hug before they joined the rest of the group on the bleachers.

The school's football field had become one of the many meeting places this pack seemed to have.

"Lydia's not here yet." Malia reminded them. I text her this morning but she never replied."

"Did you actually remember to press send?"

Malia growled at Stiles making him sink back in his seat.

"I saw her yesterday but haven't heard from her since." Scoot commented.

Derek's head tilted to the side, "She's in the library."

Volunteering herself to retrieve the strawberry blonde, Paige jumped down from the bleachers.

No matter how far away she traveled Paige would always remember her time at BHHS, both the good and the heart wrenchingly bad. Her memories led her down the hall to where she'd seen Derek and his friends dribbling a basket ball, into the old music room.

Not a lot had changed a new coat of paint here and a couple new instruments there. In the corner sat her old cello, well not hers, but the one she use to practice with while at school. Taking the instrument out of its case, Paige sat in the gray chair facing the middle of the room, her hands started moving along the strings making soft music.

 _"_ _What are you staring at?" She's snipped at him, pretending to be bad._

 _Derek had heard her playing while in class and left to find her, dropping his bag at the door._

 _"_ _I'm listening, why am I distracting you?"_

 _Paige went back to playing. "No, I have laser like focus."_

Paige could still feel Derek's warm breath on her ear, his soft lips that made her mess up the song she was desperately trying to play.

It had also been the first time she had said she loved him.

"Reliving your glory days?"

Paige put the instrument back, "Hi Lydia, actually I came to find you but I got distracted."

"I use to know how to play that piece on the piano."

"I didn't know you could?"

Lydia smiled, "There are a lot of things people don't know about me."

"I don't know, Stiles seems to know a little too much sometimes." Paige joked.

"We've been going to the same school since forever and he's weirdly attentive to everything."

Both girls could agree on that. "He is all about those string web maps."

.

When the girls made it to the field Paige noticed Derek looked even more unhappy them when she left.

"I printed off those news reports like you wanted." Lydia handed a pile of papers to Stilies.

Paige leaned over his shoulder to get a better look. "I remember some of these from when the accident fire happened."

"Accident... yeah right."

"Stiles, seriously?" Scott sighed.

Paige suddenly felt like she was missing something. "What?"

"Stiles thinks that Theo had something to do with his sister's Death." Derek told her.

She turned on Stiles for answers "Why would you think that? He was only a kid when it happened."

"Actually we were like 10, kids can be psycho murders too, don't be such an ageist." Paige rolled her eyes at that.

"Scott what do you think?"

"I think Stiles needed something new to obsess over."

Derek stepped in, "Let him obsess, if it leads me to why Theo's back in town then I don't care how he does it."

Stiles shoot the rest of us a "HA!" look before starting to organize the papers in his hand. For now all they had to do was wait and see if Theo would make a move.

"I heard you playing." Derek muttered in Paige's eat.

Scott's eyes flickered to them before quickly looking away.

"My old cello was still there."

"You're probably the only one who ever played it." He teased.

"Well the triangle is among one of the more popular instruments."

That Scott had to break his silence for, "You took band?" Which in turn got everyone else's attention.

"Bro you were a band geek." Stiles couldn't believe it.

Out of the two of them Paige was the one to respond. "No Derek was too cool for us band nerds."

He tried to defend himself, "I never called you a nerd."

"Your face said it all." She turned back to the group. "He was more of the Jackson type."

"That kid was a dick." Derek said not catching her comparison.

"I think that was her point." Lydia hid behind her smirk.

"What ever happened to him anyway?" Paige was more behind on most of the pack gossip.

"He took off for London."

She blinked at Scott."Seriously, werewolf in London..."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

 **I really hope you that are reading it really like this story, I was excited to start posting and getting your feedback.**

"When you knew Theo, what was he like?" Derek asked on their ride back to his place, he was still in business mode worrying about possible threats.

"I never knew him, I knew of his family and the accident. I think he was a young kid who suffered a loss, you know more than anyone how badly that can hurt. Why are you trying to make him out to be some kind of threat?"

"Because as much as I hate to admit it, Stiles theories, no matter how crazy, usually are something you want to pay attention too." Paige rolled her head along the headrest to look at Derek, she knew admitting Stiles had any sort of brain hurt him. "Nine time out of ten he's usually on to something."

"It's like he has his own spidy sense for the supernatural of Beacon Hills. I think we should wait it out regardless, we don't want to start jumping to conclusions."

Derek snorted, "Please on their way off the field I heard Stiles telling Scott they needed to stop at a store so he could pick up more red yarn."

Paige rubbed her temples. "Let him obsess, for now we have our own problems to worry about."

"Like?"

"Like my parents insisting that you come to the family BBQ this Thursday."

He groaned, "You mean the roast of Derek?" There was no way in hell he wanted to spend any time he didn't have to with her parents.

Derek had done the nice thing when he had gotten back to town, he'd always made sure Paige was home before she had to be and he always picked her up at the door. He even brought flowers when he was invited to a family dinner or two. But he knew her parents didn't like or trust him with their daughter, he guess he understood that but it always felt like he was missing something. Every time he brought the subject up to Paige she brushed it off as ex-boyfriend comes back to town and chases a boyfriend they really liked away to become boyfriend again.

"When I say family I mean everyone, cousins, aunts and uncles. We don't even have to stay for long and they aren't going to be anything but polite with my grandfather there."

"He's the only one who actually likes me."

"I like you." She smiled as they pulled into his driveway. "If it makes you feel any better, the rest of the pack was invited too."

Derek shot her a look. "Yeah that makes me feel so much better."

"In all that complaining I never heard a no." Paige walked into the apartment ahead of him, swaying her hips.

Running up behind her Derek grabbed her waist, tickling as he threw her over his shoulder.

"This is not the stone ages put me down!" Paige laughed her legs kicking out in surprise.

A voice neither one of them wanted to hear came from the alleyway beside them.

"Yeah Derek, put her down."

Derek immediately brought Paige down and stood slightly in front of her, his hand still on her waist to let him know where she was.

"Kate."

"Hi handsome, miss me?"

A quite growl rumbled in his chest. "What do you want?"

"I just want to have a little talk with your girlfriend; she's a hard one to track down, always chained up with one thing or another."

Paige glared at her over Derek's shoulder; the bitch was teasing her right out in the open, in front of him.

"I don't see that happening."

Kate looked at him from head to toe, Paige wished she was a wolf, if she were Kate would be missing a chunk out of her neck.

"Always so protective, although from the looks of her recent medical records you've been slacking."

 _Was she talking about what happened with Mitchell?_ Paige stiffened behind Derek, how the hell did she know about that. Paige was about to ask when Derek beat her too it.

"I told you once and I'm not going to tell you again Kate, keep her the hell out of whatever games you're playing."

Kate leaned again the side of the building. "I'm not the one who brought her into this Derek."

"Both of you need to stop talking about me like I'm not here." Paige snapped not liking being ignored.

"Go inside." Derek ordered without so much as a glance.

"It's fine; I'll just find her another time." Kate taunted, disappearing between the two buildings.

Derek didn't like threats and Kate being home had been threat enough to make him annoyed but now she was laying down a challenge. Bringing up Paige's safety and his inability to protect her was crossing a line.

Taking her wrist Derek pulled Paige into the building ahead of him, ears still pealed for Kate; thankfully it seemed like she had left them alone, for now.

"I'm going to shower." Paige muttered wanting some time to herself, seeing Kate had put her into a bad mood.

Moving toward the shower Paige was met with resistance, Derek's hand was still wrapped around her wrist.

"Hold on a second."

Paige allowed him to turn her around but she kept her eyes away from his.

"I'm tired I just want to shower and go to bed."

Derek brushed off her excuse. "It's not even 5:00."

"Can we not do this?"

His thumb rubbed the pressure point on the underside of her wrist. "I was listening to your heart beat while we were outside."

Of course he was, "Are you sure it wasn't Kate's." He raised his eye brow at her. "You should have let me go shower."

"I don't want you worrying about her."

"I'm not." She was being somewhat honest.

Derek sighed and waited for her eyes to meet his before continuing. "We never really talked about her before-"

"There is a reason for that, I don't want to talk about her Derek, I want to pretend she doesn't exist." She made to stand but didn't get far.

"We can't do that, she's a threat-"

"I know! You aren't the only one she likes to chain up in basements okay, you aren't the only one she's shot arrows into!"

"Paige-"

"I'm going to shower!" shutting the conversation down, she marched into the bathroom.

Derek felt bad that his teen digressions were affecting his and Paige's relationships four years later. He knew Kate got under her skin even if Paige tried to pretend she didn't. Derek remembered their first few weeks back together, they'd gone to an end of school beach bonfire, Paige still hadn't fully forgiven him, but he was doing everything he could to earn her trust back.

The some idiot from high school had to bring up the "sexy blonde" Derek had hooked up and run away with and since he was back with Paige could he get her number.

Paige had bit her lips looking down, the fire licking her bare legs.

Derek wanted to kill Garrett, Greg or maybe it was James; no matter his name Derek wanted to rip his throat out.

"Come on dude don't hog, you don't need both of them. Though if you want to keep the blonde I'd take Paige for a spin, I've seen her at the beach in that little black-"

That was it, Derek had sprung to his feet grabbing the front of the guys shirt and tossing him into the sand.

"Derek don't!" Paige yelled getting to her feet.

Everyone around them had already starting chanting "fight, fight!"

The guy he had tackled threw a punch that landed right on Derek's temple, shocked the wolf lost his grip and found himself face down in the sand. Unlucky for the other guy Derek recovered quickly getting back on top.

When everyone realized that Derek wasn't going to let up they tried to step in and got him to release his grip on what's his face. The only reason they were successful was cause Derek conceded, he raised his hands up to show he wasn't going to go after the guy anymore.

When he finally looked around himself he saw Paige had started to walk away, she's only made it a couple of feet when he caught up to her.

"Get away from me." Paige shrugged out of his grip.

"He was being a dick I had-"

"No you shouldn't have done anything, the only reason he made that stupid comment was because of you."

"I don't want you to have to listen to that crap."

Paige laughed dryly. "You think that this is the first time I've heard some crack about you and Kate? You dropped me for some home from college older women and skipped town with her-"

"I didn't skip town with her."

"-I listened to the whole school debit back and forth between who was hotter and who they'd rather bone. When I started dating Tyler all the talk started to die down, but then you came back and people started having an opinion again."

"I'm sorry." That was all Derek could think to say.

"I don't want anymore apologies from you."

"What do you want me to do? I'm doing everything I know to do, Kate was a mistake I let her manipulate me and I let her hurt you in the process-"

"You hurt me!"

He nodded, "But it's never going to happen again, she's gone and I'm not ever going to let her back into our lives."

Paige let her defensive stance drop, "Can we just get out of here? I've had enough goodbyes from these people."

That was the only time he and Paige had ever brought up Kate and now that she was back and Derek had already broken his promise.

Kate was back in town and she had already interfered with his and Paige's lives. You can be sure of one thing Derek was going to protect her from whatever backlash Kate was about to send their way.

"Derek!" He stood hearing Paige call for him.

The door to the bathroom was left unlocked, the loft had one of those standing glass showers in it, the glass was completely fogged up.

The door slid open slowly and Paige's hand stuck out, inviting him in. Stripping down, Derek accepted her hand walking into the steamy mist, his skin burned with the temperature of the water. Paige only took burning hot showers when she wanted to cleanse herself.

Her body was slick and Derek wasted no time at all bringing her into his arms, Paige rose up onto her toes to connect her lips to him; their chests slipped against one another earning a moan from both parties.

"You're bleeding." Derek said on her lips.

Paige nuzzled her forehead against his, looking off to the side to see her red arm.

"I may have looahed a little harder than necessary."

"I'm-" Before he could apologise Paige reclaimed his lips.

Derek kissed his way down her body till he was on his knees before her, taking one of her hands to help her keep balance, Derek brought both her knees onto his shoulders.

"Derek." She said nervously.

His kissed her thighs to let her know that she was safe in his hands. Paige relaxed back onto the foggy glass, her back arching off the cool surface on her overheated body pulling a chuckle from Derek, his hot breath hitting her center.

Paige gripped his hand tight as his tongue ran along her, her other hand running though his hair. Derek relentlessly Kissed, sucked and licked her until she was quivering on top of him; right before she came he pulled back helping her stand up.

"Such a tease." Paige groaned, her head falling back onto the glass.

Derek laughed kissing her neck before turning her to face away from him, pulling her back to his chest. Lining himself up he slipped inside her.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

"Derek I can't be late." Paige said running from the bedroom to the living room, trying to find her left shoe.

He laughed. "I'm ready, you're the one running laps."

"Where the hell is my shoe!" She growled angry.

Finally deciding to be helpful, Derek walked into the kitchen where he knew her shoe had been forgotten. After he handed it to her, she quickly put it on and smoothed out her dress.

"I thought you said this BBQ wasn't a big deal."

Paige shot him a look, "I still want to look nice."

Shaking his head Derek followed Paige out of the loft and toward his roast, or as Paige called it a friend and family BBQ.

.

Everyone seemed to be at Paige's house before her and Derek; Stiles, Malia, Scott, Lydia-and Theo were there. Before Paige could ask Derek if he set up some kind of "guess Theo's motive" game at her families BBQ, her mom came around the corner.

"Paige I'm happy you made it." She pulled her into the hug.

"Mom, I told you I'd be here."

Her mom shoot a look at Derek, as if he was the reason her daughter was 20 messily minutes late.

"Sorry we were late I couldn't find my shoes." Paige tired to take the blame off him. "Can you just keep it civil please? You promised."

Her mom sighed, fixing a piece of hair that had fell out of place. "Did you notice who else was here?"

Paige looked around to see if anyone from her family that usually didn't come had shown up. "No?"

"Theo Raeken, your father and I saw him in town a couple days ago, he just moved back isn't that exciting."

Paige looked at Derek, "I didn't know you were so close with his parents."

Paige's mom gave her a strange look. "Paige-you guys use to hang out all the time."

"Uh no we didn't."

"Honey I knew it's hard to think about, you were just a little girl-"

"I have no clue what you are talking about."

Theo popped out of nowhere, "Thanks again for inviting me Mrs. Krasikeva."

Paige's mother gave him the brightest smile, pulling him into a hug. Derek shot Paige an accusing look, but she couldn't do anything put watch the two hugging in front of her.

"Theo you remember Paige."

Theo looked to Derek first, being a wolf he could sense who had power and who didn't, Derek did nothing but look back at him.

"And Derek, they were both a couple grades ahead of me."

The four stood there looking at each other not knowing what else to do, they were all broken from their silence when Paige's dad pulled her mother away.

Trying to get rid of the tension Paige tried to change the topic, "How long are you back for?"

Theo smiled down at her, he was standing closer than Derek liked, "I came back here to finish out my high school education and I wanted to be closer to my sister."

"Are your parents here?"

Paige knew she had said something wrong when silence followed her question, "They died last year."

God this kid just couldn't catch a break. "I'm really sorry, I hadn't heard."

He just shrugged, "Ever since my sister died they hadn't been the same."

Derek heard Theo's heart skip a beat, he felt like he could relate to Theo, their lives seemed very similar, they both lost people at a young age. His story had almost been enough to soften Derek's suspension, that was until he heard him lie through his teeth.

"If we could get everyone's attention, my wife and I have a little announcement."

Everyone moved closer to the BBQ area to listen to what her parents had to say. Paige watched both her parents closely as they stood in front of their family and her friends.

Derek tensed next to her. "Shit." His eyes flickered to Paige.

The rest of their friends come to stand with them, Scott stood closer to Derek and he whispered.

"You smell that too right?"

Derek nodded, his eyes still on the girl beside him, her smile was about to get turned upside down and she had no idea.

"We can't let her find out in front of all these people."

Stiles head popped up next to Scott's, "What are you two whispering about?"

Derek growled at him for drawing attention to his and Scott's semi private conversation, They'd both caught the scent as soon as they had walked into the party, but hadn't been able to decipher who they were smelling until now.

Mr. Krasikeva cleared his throat, "You all know I've been in and out of the hospital for the last few months, we wanted to wait until we were all together to let you know that I have _Lymphoma_." Paige's knees wobbled beneath her. "My immune system isn't strong enough to fight off the cancer, my wife and I decided to throw this party to celebrate our family all together one last time, to us!"

Most people raised their glasses with looks of shock on their faces, some with tears in their eyes. Paige's glass slipped right through her fingers smashing on the stone walkway.

"Derek?" Her voice shook, all she wanted was for him to tell her she's somehow heard wrong. But she hadn't she knew she hadn't and so did Derek.

Paige meet her parents eyes from across the crowd, as soon as the announcement was made Paige had everyone's attention, even before her glass shattered all over the floor.

Her mother looked at her with Pity, like she wanted to tell her daughter the news beforehand but hadn't had the time. Her father on the other hand had whipped out a cigar and was having a Brandi with her uncle's.

"Let's go." Derek told her, taking her elbow gently into his hand.

"I'll be right back." She muttered at the same time, ignoring his hands on her and followed her mother into the house.

"Paige honey I am-" Her mother was already grovelling before the patio door was closed.

"How could you do that to me mom? Let me find out along with everyone else like some kind of third cousin twice removed? I'm your daughter!"

"Your dad thought it was easier if he only had to say it once."

"Easier for him, mom how would you like it if a couple weeks ago when I was sent to the ICU you were told days later by Derek that I had slipped into a coma and died?"

Okay so that was a little dramatic, and Paige could practically envision Derek smirking out on the patio as she used his words from a couple days go. But in the moment Paige was mad and upset, all she wanted was for her mother to admit that what she let her dad do was a dick move.

Her mom gasped, "That is not the same thing as-"

"But it is though, because you would be feeling about as betrayed as I feel! The fact that dad isn't even in here right now-why didn't you guys tell me when you came to visit me, or when I called you last month when Aunt Stacey called me and let it slip that dad had been in and out of the hospital, I asked you about it and you brushed me off."

"We weren't sure if it was terminal yet."

"My dad being diagnosed with cancer is still a big deal mom! I don't get why you can't see the wrong in this."

"It was your dad's decision."

Paige wanted to scream, "No, cancer is a family thing, you tell your family and NOT during some big function!"

"Maybe if you were home more-"

Was she really about to bring Derek into this like Paige thought she was?

"Are you seriously about to blame yours and dad's choices on my boyfriend?"

Paige watched her mom run her fingers through her hair.

"He hurt you-"

Paige held up her hand, "Stop right there, I'm not going to let you turn this into some kind of fight about Derek. This is about you and dad and this fucking secret."

Her mother looked shocked at her daughters cursing, Paige never swore unless she was really upset and right now she wanted to find Kate just so she'd have a punching bag.

Paige starting toward the stairs, "Where are you going?"

"To get my bag, I'll be staying at Derek's for the rest of the break."

"Paige come back, we need to talk about this."

But there was no answer, Paige wanted to get the hell out of that house as fast as she could. At the same time Stiles had made his way to the bathroom.

"Hey how are you doing?" Stiles voice was full of pity.

Paige shrugged, she wasn't ready to talk about it she was still burning with anger.

"Scott borrowed his moms car to get here right? I remember seeing it out front."

Stiles having no idea where she was going with this nodded.

"Can I have your keys?"

"I thought you drove here with Derek?"

She nodded, "I just want some time to myself right now, I'll get it back to you before dark."

Giving in, Stiles handed over his keys and watched Paige disappeared down the stairs and out the front door.

Climbing into Stiles blue jeep Paige turned it over to make sure it would even run.

"Derek." She sighed, "I just need you to not be you for a couple hours and let me be alone, I'll meet you at Stiles place at sundown."

.

Derek watched Paige disappear into the house with her mom, He listen to her heart beating like a war drum which in turn caused him to feel uneasy.

"I can't believe her parents didn't tell her beforehand."

Derek looked at Scott, both of them seemed to be listening into the argument going on in the kitchen. When Derek turned to see if Theo was also listening in, he wasn't there.

"I can't believe that smell was her dad." Malia said scrunching her nose up.

Stiles looked at everyone "Its progress." He shrugged.

When Derek and Scott seemed to tune back into their conversation Stiles made his break for the house, he had to pee since that had arrive. Theo had shown up and he didn't want to miss anything and then Paige's dad made his speech, now seemed like a good a time as any.

Derek made plans to meet with the pack the following day knowing that Paige wouldn't want to stay at the party. He was grabbing his coat off one of the benches when he heard her speaking to him from the front of the house.

"Derek." She sounded guilty and tired, "I just need you to not be you for a couple hours and let me be alone, I'll meet you at Stiles place at sundown."

Derek wanted to tell her to wait but there was no way for her to hear him, by the time he got around to the front of the house Stiles shitty jeep was already out of ear shot. Pulling out his phone he tried to reach her on her cell but it wasn't straight to voice mail, _damn it Stilinski!_

 _._

It may have taken her an hour to get there but Paige finally pulled up to a fairly vacant beach, most people who knew any better never came to this one for swimming purposes.

Kicking her heels off Paige wiggled her toes in the warm sand, the ocean air filled her lungs. Paige left everything back in the jeep, only carrying a blanket that had been on the back seat and the bottle of tequila she'd swiped from her parent's liquor cabinet.

Messily tossing the blanket onto the sand Paige smoothed it out before dropping onto it, Paige had stupidly started drinking about 3 miles back, her buzz finally starting to settle in.

She knew Derek was probably calling her and that he'd be mad she left without him, he had probably giving Stiles shit for giving over his keys so easily. Right now those things were only more reason to drink up now and deal with the consequences later.

Half the bottle had been downed in the first half an hour, and seeing how Paige hadn't eaten anything at her dads cancer announcement party, the booze was having a stronger affect.

Stumbling to her feet, only be fall down again Paige crawled her way back towards the road and jeep, the blanket and bottle being left behind. She was in no way going to be safe to drive in a couple hours let alone before sun down, she'd have to suck it up and call Derek.

When she got up to the Jeep the passenger side door had been left open and the car looked like it had been ransacked, luckily for Stiles he never kept anything laying around in his truck, unlucky for Paige her phone was now gone.

"Gueess Imma walkin." She muttered to herself.

Paige slumped back in the truck for another 20 minutes hopping she'd acquire the ability to walk, but she'd drank too much and the odds of her spending the night at the beach seemed very high.

After stumbling back for the blanket, Paige tried to make herself comfortable in the front seat but the damn police radio wouldn't stop digging into her side.

 _Duh the police radio!_ God she was a stupid drunk, Paige knew for a fact that Stiles had a receiver in his bedroom, looking out the window Paige saw the last bit of light disappear into the ocean. Derek and Stiles would be home now waiting for her and would be able to come and pick her up.

It took a couple of tries but finally Paige was able to turn the dial and get the transmission to go through.

"Derek?" She slurred.

Waiting a couple seconds Paige called out again.

"Derek? Stiles? I'm on the cops scanner." Giving them direction in case they need it.

"Paige-" Stiles started to say her name before Derek ripped the radio from him. "Are you drunk?"

"I can't drive and the racoons stool my phone, "Her words were slurred and not as clear as she was trying to make them. "I tried walking but I can't, my feet don't work."

"No don't walk! Where are you?" Derek demanded.

Paige looked, "There's a car coming, I think they are slowing down."

"Paige-" He tried to get her to focus, "Where are you?"

"The beach." She said before dropping the receiver onto the passenger seat, the car slowing to a stop behind the Jeep.

Paige locked the doors and slid down in the driver's side seat, her heart rate picking up in her chest.

"Lock the doors I'll be there as soon as I can." Derek said before the radio was nothing but dead air.

The front on the car flicked off when the engine cut out, the sound of a door closing was followed with silence until a fist rapped on her window.

"AHH!" Paige screamed, no matter how many werewolves she's faced down humans would always be scarier to her.

"It's just me." A voice laughed.

Paige snuck a peep out her window to see Theo smiling down at her, not wanting to get out of the car she rolled down the window.

Theo blew out a gust of air taking a step back, "You smell like a brewery. What are you doing getting drunk out in the middle of nowhere by yourself?"

Scoffing Paige rolled her eyes, "Did you not hear my father's big announcement?"

He nodded, "Still doesn't explain-"

"I just wanted to blow off some steam okay?" Paige meant to sound snappy but the amount of alcohol in her system made that impossible. "I mean why even the hell does Kate have to be back in town at the exact time I'm coming back?"

Drunk word vomit is always interesting and Paige seemed to have a big case of it. She and Derek don't talk about Kate, it had always been like some sort of unspoken rule between them but that didn't mean that Paige didn't have a lot to say on the subject. In fact Paige had a lot of things bottled up that she wished she could tell Derek so he would just rip Kate's stupid perfect face off.

"Who's Kate?"

"No one and everyone, that's the problem and I feel like Derek doesn't even see it."

Derek did see it and like Paige he had a lot to say but never knew when the right time to say it was, and when he and Paige were together there was never a right time.

Theo shifted on his feet, when he'd followed Paige out here he never expected to find her like this; he planned to follow her and make sure she didn't remember anything about that night his sister died. When her mom had brought it up earlier Theo thought he saw something in Paige's eyes, but now he wasn't sure that night was high up in her priorities of problems.

"Maybe he does."

"What?" The silence between them had only been 10 seconds long and already Paige forgot what she had been talking about. "What are you doing here?"

Theo smiled, "I was driving around looking at all the old places I use to go when I saw Stiles jeep on the road."

Paige nodded, "Did your family use to bring you up here or something?" Theo frowned at her, "You were like 11 when you left, you wouldn't have driven yourself."

"Right... I use to take the closest bus and then walk." Paige head fell back onto the headrest. "I think your boyfriends here."

Paige waiting a couple seconds but couldn't hear anything, about a minute later the roar of Derek's engine could be heard as it speed up the street.

"The hell is he doing here?" Theo heard Stiles grumble to Derek before they got out of the car.

Paige had removed herself from the front seat of the Jeep and as stumbling around to the front, holding onto the hood. Theo stayed where he was, Derek was already furious and now wasn't the time for them to butt heads.

Derek walked briskly toward his girlfriend, Stiles jogging to keep up with his pace. While Stiles dragged his eyes over Theo in disgust, Derek did a quick scan of Paige to make sure that she was okay.

"Put her into the car." Derek told Stiles.

Paige tried to speak to him but her words were too slurred and she was started to get sleepy, giving up she fell into Stiles side and let him pull her toward the black camaro.

"Wait Stiles I don't feel so good." Paige moaned.

"You think it's because you drank all Mexico's tequila?" His smart mouth replay was not appreciated in the moment but he couldn't help himself.

Derek tuned them out, "You follow her out here?"

"Look, I know you're on the Stiles band wagon when it comes to me but nothing insidious was going on here. I was just out for a drive and recognized the jeep."

"I don't believe you." Derek grinned.

Theo smiled back, "I guess I'll have to work harder to prove my innocence, because I am." He started to walk away but then added over his shoulder. "Next time I see a helpless girl on the beach I'll make sure to drive by as to not raise any suspicions."

Derek watched him go, not moving until his car was around the corner and out of sight. By that time Stiles had only semi managed to put Paige in the back car, she'd become dead weight to him once she fell asleep on her feet.

"I'm not going to make it." Paige pouted as they pulled up to Derek's place.

She'd had to pee for the past 10 minutes and Derek ensured her that she could wait another few instead of peeing on the side of the road; As soon as the car was at a full stop Paige stumbled toward the building.

"For the love of god." Derek complained, knocking her legs out from under her, he carried her bride style into the house.

After she'd relieved herself and took another 10 minutes trying to wash her hands Paige existed to bathroom to come face to face with a not so happy wolf.

"Don't." She sighed; she didn't want to hear the lecture.

Derek looked at her cautiously; he wasn't mad she left the party by herself. Paige sometimes just needed to be by herself and he respected that when she asked for it. He wasn't more than 15% mad that she got drunk off her ass on a random beach and need to call him for a ride home. He was furious about Theo magically turning up and whatever weird connection he seemed to have with Paige.

Overall he was just mad he hadn't been there for her when he should have been; instead she was finding comfort at the bottom of a bottle. He had insecurities too, for the first year after they got back together he Derek felt like Paige was going to slip through his fingers. She wasn't a werewolf the only think keeping her around was the fact that for some weird reason she seemed to love him, he knew better than anyone how easy it is for someone to rip that love away.

"I don't have a speech planned, you've heard it before and it doesn't seem to have made a difference, get some sleep."

When she didn't move Derek took a closer look at her, Paige's shoulders had started to shake and her breath had become labored.

Paige sniffled, "My dad's dying."

Derek felt his heart break; crossing the room he pulled her into his chest and kissed the top of her head. Both of them fell to their knees, Paige breathing in Derek deeply, his scent and warmth making her feel safe.

"He's only 46, we were supposed to have more time."

"You still have it."

Paige pulled back to look at him, "How much? I heard what you and Scott said today, he's a lot sicker than he looks."

Derek nodded he didn't want to be the one too tell her, her father wasn't going to last long enough to see her graduate. But she was looking up at him, waiting for the kill shot.

"A month, maybe."

She broke down again, this was not how she wanted to spend her break, crying into the arms of her boyfriend and dealing with exes.

"I can take you home." He offered.

"No, I should wait till I've had the night to sober up."

He smiled softly, "Good idea."

Gathering her in his arms again Derek brought them up to bed, his mind racing as he listened to the voice that was talking to him from outside.

"That was some announcement Mr, K made today. You're lucky Paige decided to call you instead of walking into those waves tonight, of course you don't know this because you were gone but- well I didn't come here to spill secrets."

Derek's jaw tightened at her left a sleeping Paige and walked toward the giant glass window to look down upon Kate, she smile was nasty.

"I bet you're wondering why I came back here. I'd like to tell you but I still got a few more things I need to do first. You better keep a watchful eye over that little girlfriend of yours, or don't. She's seemed to fair quite well on her own so far."

Derek watched as Kate disappeared out of sight, laughing quietly to herself.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

When she woke up, Paige had Derek drop her at her parents' house, despite what she had said last night Paige wanted to spend as much time with her dad as she could, which is how she came to this decision.

"I'm going to defer my classes for a year."

Her dad's mouth dropped open "No."

"Dad?"

"In three weeks you are going to go back to school and finish out your year."

"I'd be going back just to turn around and come back to Beacon Hills for your funeral, school can wait but you can't it just makes more sense."

Her mother tried to step in, "We don't know how much time he has left, he could hang on until the summer time, no one is sure." Just by looking at her father Paige knew that wasn't true.

Yesterday he looked healthy to her but now that he was in his pj's leaning back in his lazy boy, with an oxygen masked strapped under his nose, Paige could seem his time was almost out.

"I'm making the call this afternoon I've already decided."

"What does Derek think of this?"

Paige looked at her mom, "You can't trash him all the time until you want to use him against me, I haven't told him yet but it's not his decision either."

"Paige I want you to take the rest of your break and think about this." Her dad seeming to be coming around to the idea, he wanted his daughter close, "The weekend before you go back is when you can decide."

"My mind's made up, but I'll wait before I email the school."

Her mother didn't seem overly happy with what had just been decided but she didn't say anything more and neither did her dad.

"We'll why don't I go and pick us up some lunch, they still have that sub place down the road?"

Her mother nodded. It was somewhat of a family tradition, something they always found time to do together. But since her father was a little too weak Paige would settle for subs to go.

"I'll be back in a couple minutes, you guys look for a good movie to watch."

Staying with a guy who use to live in the middle of the woods and getting shot at more often than not has done wonders to Paige's cardio stamina, if she had the choice Paige always chose to walk over driving any day, but today she found herself wished she had taken her parents car when she noticed Kate following her.

She could either turn and confront her now or wait till they she was cornered in the sub shop, Paige preferred neither but knew that wasn't an option with Kate.

Turning sharply Paige crossed her arms over her chest, "Why are you following me, do you honestly have nothing better to do?"

"Honestly? Today's been kind of slow for me."

"I thought Derek told you to stay the hell away from me."

Kate looked around tauntingly, "Well I don't see him anywhere little pup and I'm not in the habit of taking orders from Derek."

"Don't call me that!"

"Well haven't you thought about it?" Kate circled her, "Why he hasn't turned you yet."

"Have you ever thought that maybe I don't want to be turned?"

"Why? He's going to stay young while you get old and saggy in all the wrong places, you've meet Cora she's way older than she looks."

Paige swallowed, Derek never brought it up and neither did she, it wasn't something they didn't have to worry about yet. Paige knew back in high school it had been something his Uncle Peter had bugged him about but nothing ever came of it.

"You're stalking me to reprimand me about my life style choices?"

Kate paused in her circling, "I'm here to find out why you've yet to tell you "boyfriend" about what happened while he was gone." Kate held up her finger, "And don't say you did, Derek would have had me under his claws as soon as I stepped foot in Beacon Hills, and not in the fun way he use to pin me down."

"Maybe I don't want him around you more than you already seem to be forcing yourself."

"Honey believe me I never forced that boy to do anything, he was always willing to please."

Paige almost gagged, "You're a sick child manipulating-"

"There is no need for names, we were just having a polite conversation."

"I don't know what kind of training you hunters go through but cornering someone in the street is not polite."

Kate licked her lips, "I'll keep that in mind; tell Derek I'll be dropping by the loft again soon, last time was just too much fun."

 _When the hell was she at the loft! And why would Derek hid that after getting pissy at me for keeping secrets?_

When she finally got to the sub shop Paige didn't feel much like eating but knew her parents would be waiting for her and expecting food. After placing her order she decided she couldn't wait till later to talk to Derek.

 **You need to tell your girlfriend to stay the hell away from me, I don't appreciate being attacked in the street.**

\- **Paige**

Almost immediately her phone buzzed, Derek's name flashed across the screen. Paige rolled her eyes and hit ignore, shutting her phone off seconds later when he tried to call her again.

"He must have done something bad for you to be turning your phone off on him."

"Excuse me?" Paige said looking at the guy behind her; she thought she remembered seeing him around town.

"Whoever that Derek guys is, I assume he's your boyfriend and that it has something to do with that girl from outside."

"What are you some kind of spy?"

He shrugged, "Just observant, small town like this there isn't a lot going on."

Paige collected her sandwiches from the man behind the counter shooting him a smile.

"You must not be paying close attention. See ya"

Thankfully there were no surprises on her walk home, she actually got to stop and smell a couple flowers that her neighbour grew this time of year.

"Guys I'm back, I even remembered that spicy mayo you like." Paige announced in a sing song voice.

"The movies ready to go and I popped some popcorn to go with our sandwiches." Paige's mom said coming around the corner.

"What did he end up picking?"

"I think you'll like this one."

Whenever her father picks the movies they are usually old classics, that can be either hit or miss. This time he just seemed to close his eyes and click because what was on the TV screen was not what she expected.

Paige rolled her eyes playfully, It turns out her father didn't pick too bad a movie, if you call bad grandpa a good movie. Luckily for Paige, her and Stiles had seen this movie in theatres so she knew exactly what to expect and could watch her parents reaction to the scene in the club with the grandpas saggy balls.

But they had only made it a couple of scenes into the movie when there was a sharp tapping on the patio door.

"I'll get it, you guys keep watching it gets better."

Her mom was rubbing her forehead, "I don't see how it could get any worse."

Mr, K chuckled, "If it's that goofy friend of yours invite him in, I like him."

 _Sure her parents liked Stiles more than they liked her boy friend If only they knew all the shit he's done. Derek had killed Peter only to find out later he was still alive, and he's maimed a couple people. Stiles on the other hand locked Jackson up on a stolen transport van and has almost killed Scott and the others various times playing with Alison's bow._

The fates were against her today though, she would have rather Stiles's goofy grin to Derek's pissed off glare any day, luckily most days it wasn't directed at her but right now it was.

Paige keep the glass door between them while she calculated all the reason's he'd come over to her house to glaring at her like this. Even when Derek gave her a pointed look that clearly said get your ass outside.

It was probably two things, A, she called Kate his girlfriend whenever she was really mad and wanted to annoy him. B, she had texted him something that most likely worried him and deserved a conversation and turned her phone off so she wouldn't have to deal with him. It was likely a mix.

Well she was fucking mad too, he never told her that Kate was over at his place, When in the hell did that happen?

"Who is it honey?" Her mom called still cringing at the movie.

Paige paused for a second not knowing what to say so she didn't, "I'll be back in a couple minutes."

Pushing Derek back so had the space to get out of the house Paige found herself pinned against the house, Derek shutting the glass door roughly beside them.

"Just what I need, to be pinned to the side of my parents house by my werewolf boyfriend when they are only a couple feet away."

"You turned off your phone."

Paige avoided his eyes, something she rarely did, "Most people take that as a Sign, I didn't want to talk to you."

"I can't control Kate Paige, I'm trying to keep her away-"

"Really?" He looked at her like she'd just started spouting pig Latin, "She told me she was at the loft, were you going to tell me or was that something that was just going to stay between the two of you?"

"After you past out last night she was there, outside, she was talking trying to get under my skin and then she left. I didn't invite her there."

 _OOH,_ How was she supposed to know that? Kate had made it sound less innocent, _Cause you are supposed to trust him dumby._

"Sorry, she was just following me and I didn't expect it and I was mad. She's so fucking convincing and I just let her make me doubt you, I'm sorry."

Derek nodded, taking a couple steps back to give Paige her space.

"What'd she want?"

Paige licked her lips, "She wanted to get under my skin just like she knows she can." Derek raised is eye brow wanting more. "You and her, why you haven't bitten me yet, that she's planning more late night loft meetings and some other stupid things that don't matter."

He nodded, his eyes soft but accusing, "There has been a lot of sharing of secrets since you've been home, but I can't help but feel like there is still something you haven't been telling me."

"I don't know what else there is? Nothing wild and crazy has happened since the last time I've seen you, well except for the stuff that you already know. You look like you know something that I don't"

"We all know how Kate is, she manipulates but she said something last night that has really been bothering me."

"OK?"

"She said I was lucky you called me instead of walking into those waves. She'd made it sound like- like she was trying to insinuate something had happened before."

 _Fuck,_ Paige stayed quiet nervously running her fingers though her hair. If she told him the whole truth it would only make him feel guiltier than he already was but if she didn't tell him it could come out at an even worse time.

Kate had made it seem like she didn't want Derek to know but at the same time she was giving him hints to make him suspicious of her hiding secrets, it didn't make sense.

"If I tell you it's not going to make you feel good, I've tried to forget it because it does really remind me of good times."

Instantly Derek knew this was about the two years they were away from each other, when she was at school they still communicated and he most of the time knew everything that was going on and vice versa.

"When you left Kate disappeared too and everyone thought you'd ran away to be together, even my parents don't know the whole story but it's kinda the reason they started to really be anti Derek. She must have lost you somewhere and when she did she came back here."

"I thought she hadn't been to Beacon Hills since the fire?"

"No one knew she was in town but me and Alison's father, she came back a couple months after you'd left. She thought if she couldn't draw you out then I could... She kept me in that argent basement, the one for the werewolves. She said it was so no one would hear me scream, She used electric rods and whips, sometimes a knife or two. I remember it being really cold down there, after a while I didn't even feel what she was doing to me cause I was so numb."

Paige could see Derek seething where he sat, his muscles balled tight like his fists and his posture was rim rod straight, his nostrils flared as he took in the information.

Derek's thoughts were racing, "She-How is she back here for more than a week and not in handcuffs?"

"After two days my parents got the police involved, I was still 17 at the time so they called a county wide amber alert. They couldn't find me, at about the week mark Kate got wind of you and took off leaving me down there. When she first tied me up she said I underestimate your love for me and that you'd come roaring in, when she left she told me she'd clearly underestimated our connection. I was down there for another few days before Argent found me, if I'm being honest those days, waiting to die, were worst than what she did to me."

Paige's thoughts were turning dark now, it was hard not to slip into those feelings when they were so strong. This had only happened a couple of years ago and at the hands of someone who was still walking around town.

"When he found me he didn't let me leave right away, he nursed me back to health made sure to clean my wounds. He threatened me to keep quite with the cops, I was willing to do anything to just get away from that crazy family, he even crafted a cover story for me. Dropped me off at a bus station a couple towns over, he said to tell everyone you were there and I'd gone to see you for two weeks, but it was over between us after that."

"When I got home my parents tried to get me to talk but I wouldn't, I looked fine on the outside, most of my injuries were easy to hide with a baggy sweater and yoga pants. They said I was never allowed to see you again and that was around the time I started to see Tyler, I just wanted everyone to get off my back and he was a good cover story."

"Night after night after night of not sleeping, to only fall asleep in class and walk up screaming, everyone thought I was crazy and I was starting to believe them. Every time I closed my eyes I was back in that basement chained up... But you were always there with Kate, but you never did anything no matter how hard I pleaded."

Derek looked beyond guilty at this point but she couldn't stop now, she was almost at the end.

"I never thought of myself as someone who would commit suicide, I was a relatively happy person and I never understood why people did it. After a month of not sleeping and hallucinations from the lack of sleep I snapped. I stole moms car and drove it out to that beach and I walked right into those waves, I remember thinking the water was warmer than that basement torture chamber. I swallowed gallons of salt water my throat was so raw, when the waves got too big I let the current pull me under. I thought you had been the one to save me at first, right before I blacked out I heard your voice, but it wasn't you."

"Some guy had been walking his dog on the beach I hadn't noticed him before but he followed me into the water, gave me mouth to mouth when he got me back on the beach, I coughed up water and starting breathing but I was still unconscious when he called 911. When I woke up that guy was still there giving his statement, he said I'd just walked right into the water, that he had called for me but I wasn't hearing him."

"They managed to keep it all under wraps, the news paper printed "sad girl tries to take her own life on cognaught beach". I heard everyone at school talk about me but no one knew who it was, even now only Tyler, my parents, you and I guess Kate know that it was me."

"Paige-" He didn't know what to say, "You tried-It's my fault you could have-" He couldn't pull himself together to create anything rational to say except for. "I'm going to rip her heart out."

"Once you got back we were already rocky enough and you already felt horrible I didn't want to pile more on, I was scared that if I told you what I did that you wouldn't want to be with someone that messed up or if I told you about Kate you'd leave to find her."

"I wouldn't have thought that."

"No it's worst, you'd be blaming yourself and thinking bad things like you are now."

His nostrils still flared as he looked at her without really seeing anything but his eyes were brilliant blue.

"All I'm thinking about now is how good it's going to feel to have her heart stop beating in my hands."

Paige walked up to him franticly, "You'd be playing right into her game Derek, I already have by telling you this but it's pretty obviously it's what she intended to happen when she came up to me today. We need to figure out what her end game is and how we are involved."

"I can't sit on this! I could have come back to Beacon Hills two years ago to find out that my-that you were gone. I would have read about how you drowned and I would have never known what Kate had done to you, if that guy hadn't been there that night."

"You don't have to think like that."

Derek's eyes seemed to glow brighter. "I won't be thinking about anything else until she'd dead."

"Hey! Killing Kate isn't important, what she's planning is."

"If I kill her she won't be around to plan anything."

Paige put her hand on his heaving chest, "But her Psychopath in crime will."

"You think she's working with someone?"

His eyes slowly faded, "I think she's doing what she did 4 years ago, when Theo found me at the beach the other night I got a weird vibe off of him, like he was familiar but- he also reminded me a lot of how you acted around the time of the fire." She didn't want to compare them but she had to.

"You think that's why he's back, because of Kate?"

Paige nodded, "We should get in touch with everyone, meet at the loft tomorrow and talk about this more. I'm sure Stiles will have lots to say, I'll have him pick me up on the way."

Derek shook his head, "I need you to come back to the loft with me."

"I can't just leave them in the middle of movie night."

"And I can't just leave you here waiting for Kate or Theo to-"

"She could have gotten to me any time she wanted okay, they aren't going to act before they're ready. Every time she's around she always says she's waiting and it's not the right time."

"It doesn't matter, come home with me or you can explain to your parents why I'll be parked outside your house all night."

She gave him a seriously? Look while he just look at her expectedly, finally she gave in.

"Alright Edward I fold, jeez! Can you just wait until the movie is over and then I'll tell them I'm spending the night at your place?"

He kissed her lips, waiting till she got back inside before making his way to wait in his car.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

"Well this is cozy, I'm Paige by the way."

"Isaac." The wolf under her introduced himself.

Paige squirmed trying to get comfortable in the small space, Stiles jeep was packed with 1 too many people, her. Derek had to go deal with a Peter related emergency before meeting them back at the loft. Scott's bike was in the shop which left, the whole group piling into the blue jeep.

"Why didn't we take two cars again?" Lydia asked squeezed between Malia and Isaac.

Scoot looked back at her, "We can't risk splitting up, Kate and Theo are-"

"Are evil!"

"Are planning something big." Scott ended looking at his best friend.

Lydia rolled her eyes moving to take half the books Malia was trying to balance on her lap, when Stiles took the next corner a little too quickly.

"Sorry, Sorry." He muttered.

"So you've been with Derek since high school... That must be interesting." Isaac said in the awkward silence.

Paige nodded, "If by interesting you mean, hunters, other werewolves and Jealous high school girls always on my ass than yeah, it has been interesting."

Isaac bit his lip, he'd been trying to keep his mind off Paige's ass, which was currently warming his lap.

"Why hasn't he turned you yet? You've been together through all the crazies what's holding you back?"

Paige hid her frown behind a sly smile, "Maybe he's just biding his time until something eventually kills me."

Isacc's mouth opened and closed like a fish while everyone snickered.

Stiles decided to put him out of his misery, "She's kidding, that's a line from the movie we saw last week."

Isaac spared a chuckle, "Oh."

For the rest of the ride the group brainstormed all the things they had found at the library, surly with all their brains they could come up with a theory.

.

"I've got nothing." Lydia threw down a book.

Stiles groaned, "There has to be something, keep looking."

"I can't believe Theo found his sister in the brook like that... That's got to be hard." Scott sympathised.

Derek's head turned up hearing Paige's heart skip a beat, in fact all three wolves and Malia seemed to hear it.

Paige hadn't noticed until Stiles spoke up, "That was totally creepy, all your heads just turned at once."

"Why'd your heart skip a beat?" Malia accused.

"When?"

Malia glared, "When Scott mentioned Theo finding his sister, your heart skipped a beat like it would if you were lying."

"I wasn't even the one who said anything." Paige defended herself.

Derek stepped in remembering something, "During the BBQ your mom mentioned that you and Theo use to hang out, I could tell by your heartbeat that you were confused by what she was saying, when she tried to explain herself Theo stepped in, his heart was beating fast."

"He's a werewolf." Stiles offered to explain the anomaly.

"Unusually fast,-" Derek clarified, "Like someone trying to keep a secret."

"I still don't get it?" Scott offered, his face matched Paige's perfectly.

"You think that when we were younger Theo and I use to hang out and you think we had something to do with his sister?" Paige clarified.

Derek had his thinking face on, it felt like they were close to breaking something but he wasn't sure what yet. Stile's seemed to remember something, quickly he flipped though the papers they'd gotten from the night of the accident.

"Holy shit, is this you?"

Everyone moved over to get a look at the photo, there was a picture of the brook, people laying yellow caution tape around the body. In the very back of the photo you could see Theo sitting in the back of an ambulance and a cop wrapping a young girl in a grey thermal blanket.

Paige backed away from the group, "Why don't I remember that night?"

"Maybe you blocked it out?" Lydia offered.

"But I remember being told about it, my mom told me the next morning that a girl in town had drowned. I was sad for her family but I didn't know them, I'd never hung out with Theo or his sister before or after that night."

"You mom seemed to think you did." Derek looked closely at her.

"And maybe I did but then why wouldn't I remember them, even if I managed to block out that night I would remember them from before."

"Could you ask your mom?" Malia asked.

Paige shook her head. "No I don't want to involve her in this, she's already worried enough about my dad."

"Can't you look back into her memories like Peter did to me?" Isaac asked Derek.

"No."

"What's he talking about?"

Derek shot Isaac a disapproving look, he didn't want any idea's being put into Paige's head.

"It was dangerous when Peter did it to you, how do you think she's going to fair?"

Isaac shrugged, it was just a suggestion.

"She is standing right here, I want to try it-I can take a little pain."

"Not this amount of pain."

Paige nodded, she'd never seen someone have their memories searched before but she'd agree for now, they still had other things they had yet to try.

"You think that whatever they are planning is going to go down before school starts back up?" Malia asked.

Stiles nodded, "It makes sense, we are all back in Beacon Hills for the next few weeks. Whatever is happening seems to have something to do with Paige, they'd have to get it done before she goes back to school."

"I'm not."

Everyone looked at her then, she'd planned on keeping it a secret until she made it official but it seemed important to whatever Kate is planning. Kate always seemed to know things she shouldn't so what's to stop her from knowing this.

"You all heard what my dad said. I'm not going to be sitting in some stupid lecture hall when my dad dies, getting a phone call from my crying mother who can't even get the words out." She muttered, just thinking about it made her want to throw up.

Lydia smiled at her, "I think it's a good idea to take some time off, you already know how much this affects school."

"Thanks." Lydia seemed to be the only one who agreed with her decision, but at least everyone else knew to keep their opinions to themselves.

"So basically we have nothing." Scott threw his hands up.

"Not exactly." Paige remembered something. "I'll be back in an hour, I need to grab something from my house."

Derek move to stand beside her, "Don't break anything while we are gone."

Stiles raised his hand, "No promises."

Derek rolled his eyes, putting his hand on Paige's lower back to lead her out the door.

"So this school thing?" He asked once they were alone.

Paige bit her lip, "I know it's a big decision but I can't think about going back right know. School will always be there and there are a lot of important things going on here."

He nodded, he wouldn't disagree and he'd be lying in he said he wasn't happy she'd be close by instead of two hours away. He was thinking about moving up there while Kate was still around but this as an easier option, the pack needed everyone accounted for.

"What are we going to get?"

"My journal, I use to write every single night before I went to bed, even stupid stuff like what I ate for lunch that day. What ever happened that night, I would have written about it."

"I have a bad feeling about this."

"Okay Stiles." Paige joked shooting him a look, when she got one back her smile faded. "I know, I do too, it feels like I'm just waiting for bad things to happen."

Derek pressed his foot harder on the gas, the car speeding through a yellow light.

.

"Hello?" Paige called walking through the living room.

"They aren't here." Derek told her moving up the stairs. "Haven't been for a couple of hours."

Paige wore a sad smile, "That's good, my dad should be enjoying the time he has left."

Derek grabbed her arm stopping her. "I'd help him if I could."

"He wouldn't survive the bite with how weak he is, it would only make him die sooner."

Climbing the rest of the stairs Paige pulled down the attack stair case, she always hated how dark and creepy it was, with instructions she send Derek up to retrieved the boxes.

"It should be the purple one." She muttered to no one in particular.

Derek chuckled, "You color coded them."

Paige shook her head ignoring him and pulled the purple journal from the box. Holding her breath she turned the pages until she found what she was looking for.

"What?" Derek asked seeing her furrowed brow.

"I just stopped writing, the last entry was from a week before the accident and the next time I write isn't till two days after."

"Maybe you were upset by the news like your mom said?"

"No because I would have written about it, this doesn't make sense. Is-can werewolves take away someone's memories?"

Derek crossed his arms at that, if peaking into a humans mind was life threatening taking something out would kill them no question. To think that someone had somehow tried to invade her like that pissed him off.

"You'd be dead."

"But they can, maybe we need to consider that someone tried to cover up what happened to us that night." She looked back at the journal in her hands. "There is almost two weeks worth of my life missing and I want to know what happened that night."

"You think it wasn't just an accident."

"Who covers up an accident?"

He shrugged, "Scared kids."

Paige shook her head, "I wouldn't have done that, no way."

"Maybe you were forced."

"Or maybe Theo did something and tried to cover it up but I wouldn't let him."

"You said he wasn't a wolf back then, how could he have done that?"

"I don't know but I think that the reason I feel connected to Theo is because we were connected somehow."

Derek didn't like the sound of that.

"We can't wait, I need to talk to him now." Paige said, a plan already spinning behind her eyes.

Derek dropped his head and exhaled, "Why do I have a feeling that I'm not going to like this."

She smiled and patted his chest, "Cause you probably won't."

.

"Derek cannot be okay with this." Stiles said pulling in between two different cars.

Paige smiled hopping out of the jeep to grab her stuff from the back. "This was your idea."

"You see, that's how I know he wouldn't like it."

Paige rolled her eyes, heading toward the wooded area, ignoring Stiles whining.

"Isn't walking into these woods the reason your best friend got turned into a werewolf? If I recall it was your idea to head into woods at night back then too."

"Exactly! Nothing good comes from these woods, like ever! These woods are evil Paige, evil!"

"I thought that you liked the fact that Scott's a wolf."

"I haven't gotten a good nights sleep in the past two months, and my life is threatened daily like multiple times, mostly by your boyfriend I might add."

"If Scott wasn't a wolf you wouldn't have been able to help Lydia and you'd probably still be gawking at her from afar-"

"I don't gawk from afar, I admire from a distance."

Paige shook her head, Stiles was so awkward and cute. "Well now you can admire up close, and sniff at her perfume."

He blushed. "You saw that?"

Paige nodded, not trying to hide the smile that was now spread across her face.

"Do you at least have a flash light?" He grumbled, shoving his car keys into his pants pocket.

Smiling Paige held up two flash lights, handing one over.

"How are we supposed to know which way he went? And how are we supposed to sneak without letting him hear us?"

Paige hushed him roughly; if he didn't shut up they would be caught for sure. The trees blocking the moonlight overhead really didn't help their sight, they tripped over roots and bumped into each other. They'd spent so much time waiting in the jeep to make sure Theo was far enough away that they were lost.

"We are not lost we just haven't found what we are looking for yet." Stiles said, keeping an open mind.

"They hell do you mean? We are lost, in the middle of the woods lost." She groaned, "Why did I leave my phone in the car?"

"Wait." Stiles froze, putting his hand on her shoulder to put Paige to hard stop. "Do you hear that?"

Closing her eyes Paige strained her ear in hopes to hear better, she'd seen Derek do it before, even though he had super hearing abilities helping him. Her stomach flipped hearing the rushing sounds of a small river.

"I know where we are."

Stiles looked at her alarmed, that tone of voice was not the tone of voice you'd want to hear where you are out in the middle of the woods without your bat.

 **People seem to be liking are reading, glad to see it :) Thanks everyone.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

 **Hi everyone, thank you for reading. After this chapter I am going to be taking a break for a couple of months to focus on my last semester of college. See you in 3 months :) I know that Is a long time but it's something I need to do. Enjoy the chapter!**

"Why? What- Where are we?"

"Paige!" Stiles jerked forward trying to stop her from moving from their hiding spot.

Paige on the other hand couldn't hide anymore, she knew Theo was here, he was visiting the place his sister had died.

"I thought you would at least have a better sense of self preservation to bring someone other than Stalinski." Theo mocked not looking at either of them.

"I resent that." Stiles cringed, he climbing out of the bushes he'd been hiding behind.

"You knew we were following you," Paige realized, he'd known since he'd left his house that afternoon. "Why'd you lead us here?"

"You've been trying to figure it out, right? What happened the night my sister died."

Why deny it, Theo clearly knew more than she did.

"I was here, I saw my picture in the paper. Why don't I remember it?"

Theo walked toward her from the bridge, Paige tensed up but didn't move as he raised his hand toward her face, his fingers gliding into her hair until they fund what they were looking for.

"Because the dread doctors took the memories from you, and maybe they drilled just a little deeper than they were supposed to."

Paige stepped back like he had shocked her, she never remembered not having the small scare hidden by her brown locks. When she asked her parents about it they just assumed she'd gotten it when she was younger.

"Who are the dread doctors?" Stiles asked, placing a comforting hand on her back.

"They are scientists-"

"You're saying mad scientist drilled into her brain and took her memories!"

Theo shook his head, "They aren't entirely human, they worshipped the supernatural and because of their loyalty they were changed."

"Into what?"

"Dread doctors aren't human but they aren't supernatural either, they're a rare breed."

Paige found her voice, "Why would they take away my memories?"

"They don't like people knowing about them." Theo shrugged like it was an obvious answer.

Paige gawked, "They drilled into my head, because they didn't like the fact that I knew about them?"

"I was the only one who was supposed to know they were in Beacon Hills."

Stiles squinted, "What makes you so special?"

"I called them here."

"Because-?"

"Because I needed something from them."

"Something you couldn't do on your own." Paige shivered. "What did it have to do with your sister?"

"I needed her heart-" Stiles gagged almost throwing up.

"You murdered your own sister for herh-heart?" Paige wouldn't believe what he'd just said, without even a hint of remorse. "I don't even, you killed your little sister."

"To serve a greater purpose."

Stiles thought back to his research. "The ME report said she drowned."

"She did," Theo nodded, pointing toward the water. "Right there, the water was cold she didn't last long."

"How could you stand there like some psycho path and watch her freeze to death?" Stiles accused.

"Do you forget why the two of you followed me out here? I wasn't the only one there that night."

Paige looked from Theo to Stiles in horror, "I wouldn't have... I wouldn't have just stood there while she-No!"

"You didn't." Theo assured her. "You screamed and cried and tried to get to her but I held you back."

"Why?" Her words were quiet.

"Because you were too important."

"That doesn't make any sense!" Paige cried. "I could have saved her, I'm an accessory to murder because of you!"

"It was too late for her, she needed to die."

Stiles held a shaking Paige. "why did she have to die?"

"The dread doctors said if I brought them her heart they would turn me."

"Into what?"

"A true Chimera."

"But you're a werewolf."

"Becoming a chimera was the first step in becoming a werewolf."

"You're sick!" Paige cried, he could picture a girl lying face down in the river, dying while she watched.

"Is there any way to recover Paige's memories?" Stiles asked.

"Only the dread doctors can put back what they took, if it's even possible. But I wouldn't suggest calling them, they are more trouble than they are worth and tricky to get rid of."

"We should go." Stiles told Paige, the wind was starting to pick up.

She nodded and started to follow him back the way they came when something else popped into her head.

"What is she planning?"

"Who?" Theo didn't look at her.

"Kate, I know she's the reason you're back here."

He smirked, she was right. "I'm just back here to visit my sister, and finish high school."

"She's just using you, it's what she does."

Theo's step faltered before he kept moving.

Stiles pulled Paige's arm to get her back into motion, they'd gotten all they were going to get from Theo.

"I let her die." Paige muttered climbing into the jeep. "I watched a little girl freeze to death and I don't even remember it."

"It's not your fault, even Theo said you tried to help but he held you back."

"It doesn't matter, it's been years what am I supposed to do with a murder confession."

"Put all your energy from that and focus it on stopping whatever Theo and Kate have planned."

"I thought he was like Derek was when he met Kate, just a pawn seduced into her little game. Now I think he's just as much a part of it as she is."

.

Stiles sat outside the loft, he could see Derek waiting for Paige by the window until she pushed aside the big sliding door.

"Kate stop by?" Derek's nostrils flared, Paige raised her hands. "I was honestly just asking, I didn't mean anything by it."

Derek's face softened as he took her in, she was clearly stressed and distracted.

"What's wrong?" Derek asked pulling her into his arms, she smelled like she'd been running around in the forest.

"Theo told me what happened the night his sister died, I- I really can't talk about it right now, Stiles is waiting to take you to Scott, Isaac and Malia."

"I'm not leaving you alone-"

Paige sighed exasperated, "Derek this place is covered top to bottom in security measures-"

He shook his head, that's not what he meant. "You're upset I don't want to leave you to deal with whatever happened tonight on your own. They can brief me in the morning."

His hands ran up and down the top part of her arms as he inspected the dried tears on her cheeks and the redness around her eyes.

Paige not able to hold her tears back any longer fell into his arms and sobbed, Derek only held her tighter. He kissed the side of her head right where she found out some half human scientists drilled into her brain, they only made her cry harder.

Stiles spoke to Derek from his jeep, "I figured you'd want to stay with her, I'm going to go let everyone in on what happened, I'll come back tomorrow morning to let you in on the details." His jeep roared to life and could be heard as it stalled halfway down the street.

Derek shook his head and focused back on the girl in his arms. Wrapping her arms around his neck Derek bent to grab the underside of her thighs and them around his waist as he carried Paige to their bed.

"Why does all this bad stuff just keep happening?" She sobbed, curling deep under the blankets.

Derek's heart hurt for her, he knew most of her pain came from the life she had to live because they were together, but he couldn't give her up again, no he was too selfish for that. He wouldn't even know how he would do it.

He joined her under the blankets, submersing them into darkness. Derek's wanted to glow his eyes so he could see her but he knew that she didn't want to be seen, she was under the blankets to hide. All he could do was touch her, he rubbed circles into her back and brushed the hair from her face; and slowly she fell asleep to his soothing movements, and sadly she didn't stay asleep for long.

Paige woke up surrounded by darkness; she knew Derek's loft wasn't this dark even with all the lights off. She flailed until she rid herself of the heavy blanket; Derek stirred at the movement but didn't wake.

Moving slowly Paige stripped from her jeans and sweater into flannel Pj pants and a black tank. Sliding the blue slippers that Derek bought her onto her feet, Paige fumbled her way down to the kitchen.

The time on the microwave informed Paige she only had five hours of sleeping time left before the day started. But she couldn't go back to sleep, every time she closed her eyes Paige dreamed and when she dreamed it was of the weeks Kate kept her locked in a basement.

She'd brought her laptop home with her to get a head start on some assignments but now why not start on her withdrawal letter.

By the time she was re-reading her letter the sun had come up and woken Derek along with it.

"Hey." His tone cautious.

If the cold sheets were not enough indication that Paige had left the bed hours ago, the dark circles under her eyes were.

"Sleep good?" She asked him, not really paying attention.

"Yeah." He looked behind her. "How many cups of coffee have you had?"

He knew she didn't drink it, she hated the stuff, always said she was peppy enough on her own in the morning without a caffeine boost.

"I don't know, 3?" She muttered into her palm, re-reading the same sentence for the fourth time.

Derek's eyebrows shot up, he walked over to her and shut the laptop.

"No I just need to re-word that last paragraph!" She complained.

"Paige you've done this the past two night, your eyes are bugging out of your head; you need to sleep."

"I'm not tired." She shrugged.

He nodded, "I'm sure the entire pot of coffee you drank in the past few hours took care of that."

"I need it to help me think; it's what us college kids call any day of the week where we have an assignment due that we haven't even started."

"I'd call it unhealthy"

Paige rolled her eyes, "It's just two nights Derek,"

"Which came after two stressful days."

"We've all been stressed."

"True but we haven't all been staying up half the night, knocking back coffee to keep us awake."

Paige tilted her head as she looked at him, her ass numb from sitting on the hard counter without moving for hours.

"Just say what you're trying to say Derek."

"I want you to remove yourself from all this for a day and go hang out with your parents."

"Seriously? You can't just keep me out of this, I'm in this!" She insisted.

"Which is part of the problem Paige, you are driving yourself crazy and it's getting unhealthy. Stiles text me after he left last night, he was worried about you."

"Stiles is always worrying, you never listened to him before."

"Because usually it's in his head, this I can see happening right in front of me." Derek gestured to her.

"Fine, if it will make you happy I will go take a nap." Paige walked past him to the stairs. "Like a toddler!"

Derek sighed, he'd go up there once she'd had the chance to cool off. In the mean time he cleaned up the kitchen, at least she'd remembered to feed herself during her all nighter. The coffee beans were almost gone, even though it'd been almost half full yesterday.

Derek lifted the pot to his nose and took a whiff, she must have put double the recommended amount by the smell of the coffee left at the bottom of the pot.

He could hear the sound of Paige's foot falls and she paced back and forth beside the bed, there was no way she could sleep with this much coffee pumping through her system.

Hearing the growling engine of Stiles jeep Derek made his way outside, he didn't want to talk where Paige would be able to hear them.

"How's she doing?" Stiles asked immediately upon seeing him.

"Not the best, she doesn't sleep and when she does it's not for long."

Stiles nodded, "In her defence I wouldn't be sleeping after what I learned last night either."

Stiles began to give Derek the rundown of what happened the night before, barely avoiding a smack to the back of the head when he told his the part about them following Theo deep into the dark forest at night.

"Dread doctors, seriously?"

"You've heard of them?"

He nodded, "They're in your mind, they exist in a plain that is different than the one we live in."

"Like Freddy?" Stiles geeky obsession with horror movies coming into play.

"Yeha I guess, they only come when called and almost impossible to get rid of."

"That's what Theo said, it was like he was afraid of them."

"He should be, just because you call them doesn't mean you control them. No one can."

"Theo all but admitted to us that he's apart of whatever Kate was planning. Paige mentioned that she thought he was a pawn, but after last night she thinks he's a player."

"She doesn't have to twist her mind, it's already twisted." Derek agreed with Paige's idea, they were working together. "I have to go do something, can you stay here and just make sure Paige doesn't make any more coffee."

"Coffee? Since when? Stiles asked himself, walking into the loft.

.

"Yes that is eleven to six, I win!" Paige yelled jumping to her feet.

Since Paige had no plans of sleeping any time soon her and Stiles started a game of poker with Oreo cookies as chips. Paige had won the past three turns which resulting in the victory dance that was currently taking place in the living room.

Paige bounced from cushion to cushion as she celebrated.

"Yeah you win, congratufuckinglations, Do you have to jump up like that every time you win?"

Paige ignored him as she jumped her way to the remote that controls the lofts sound system, within a couple seconds of getting the remote Paige had backstreet boys screaming in her and Stiles's ears.

"Back streets back alright!" Paige shouted with a big smile on her face.

The remote was help up to her lips like a microphone, as she pulled Stiles up onto the couch with her. He tried to resist but she knew he wouldn't be able to help it and would be singing along in a matter of minutes, and boy did he. All it took was the spice girls, if you want to be my lover to come on for Stiles to be bouncing around the living room with her.

"Make it last forever cause friendship never ends!" They sang to each other.

The music was so loud they Paige missed the eight calls from her mother and Stiles missed the three calls from Melissa McCall.

"God I'm tired, he need to hit up a burger place or something, regain my strength." Stiles groaned, falling into the pile of couch pillows that had made their way to the floor.

"Yeah me too, I'm going to make some coffee, do you want any?" Paige called from the kitchen.

Stiles thought back to what Derek was telling him this morning, something about Paige and coffee?

"A green light is flashing on your phone." He told her, reaching to retrieve his own.

Pulling the device to his ear Stiles listened to his friends mom deliver some less than good news.

"Forget the coffee, Paige we need to get to the hospital." Paige peaked at him from the kitchen. "It's your dad."

The coffee pot she was holding slipped from her fingers and crashed onto the cement floor, little shards of glass sliced Paige's feet up as she ran with Stiles toward the front door.

.

The hospital elevator seemed to take minutes to open after dinging that they were on the right floor. After they did open Paige really wished they hadn't, what she saw was just too damn heart breaking. Paige's mom was crouched on the floor crying into her hands, while Scott's mom rubbed her back.

Stiles put his arm around Paige and guided her out of the elevator, both their eyes moved from the two women to Paige's father who was surrounded by machines but every monitor was turned off except for the one that regulated the heart. There was a green flat line across the center on the machine and above it was a big fat zero, he was dead.

Stiles shed a tear as he took in his surroundings and came to the same conclusion Paige just had, but Paige's eyes were dry.

At that moment her mother noticed her standing there and reached out, Paige moved on autopilot and knelt down by her mother. Paige stroked her mother's hair as she grieved for her father in the middle of a disinfectant smelling hallway; while Scott's mom and Stiles looked on.

.

"You didn't have to come back with me." Derek grumbled as Peter followed him into the apartment.

"I just want to spend time with- woah what happened here?"

Peter and Derek looked around the apartment, pillows covered the floor, a smashed coffee pot lay broken in the kitchen.

Derek inhaled deeply and could smell the droplets of Paige's blood mixing with the strong coffee.

Peter seemed to inhale at the same time but his sense focused in on something else.

"Strong negative emotions happened here, the Stalinski boy was here." Derek nodded, his uncle always had a sharper nose than he did. "His sadness is mixed with Paige's fright and possibly grief."

Derek already had his phone out but neither Paige or Stiles answered his calls. He was just about to go out looking for them when he got a text from Stiles.

 **Paige's dad past away, Both Paige and her mom are at the house. She'll probably stay there for a couple night and help her mom with the funeral plans.**

Derek closed his eyes tightly, once again he wasn't here when she needed him to be; at least she'd had Stiles.

.

Paige closed her bedroom door, it's taken tow aspirin and an Irish coffee to get her to sleep. Her mom couldn't bare to sleep in the room she use to share with her desist husband so Paige set her mom up in her room.

The house had gone dark with the ski and Paige didn't bother to turn on any lights now, she knew her way around. Moving toward her father's chair Paige lowered herself into it. Her eyes got heavy as the hours went on but she never drifted into sleep.

Derek came through the side door around 3:00AM, Paige acknowledged him with a simple flick of her eyes before they settled back on the wall in front of her. Derek sat down on the long soft and watched her all night, neither of them said a word.

When the sun started to peek through the window Paige got up and move into the kitchen to make some coffee for herself.

It wasn't till then that she realized her feet stung with every step, looking down at them she say dried blood and red angry scratches.

"Sit on the counter, I'll clean them for you."

Derek's voice sounded weird in the silence they had created, but she listened all the same. Using her arms Paige lifted herself onto the kitchen counter while Derek went to the hall closet to get the rubbing alcohol and cotton pads.

Paige watched as Derek knelt down and got to work, her cuts stung and she winched when he pulled out a sliver of glass that had been sticking out of her foot since yesterday.

Derek held his tongue about how Paige should have gotten her feet taken care of at the hospital to avoid the infection that had started on most of her cuts. Paige knew that already and in the long run it wasn't on the top priority list.

Paige raise the side of her lips in acknowledgement before dropping them, if Derek hadn't been paying attention he might have missed it.

"My mom's probably going to be up soon, you shouldn't be here when she does." Derek nodded, he would do whatever she wanted him to. "I'm going to stay here for a while to help my mom out with everything."

"Just let me know if I can do anything for you."

She nodded and followed him to the side door, Derek kissed her cheek and rubbed her nose with his as he pulled away.

Paige was out of the fight like he wanted, problem was now she had a different battle to deal with.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

 **I didn't lie, I do plan on not posting once every two weeks until the summer. However, that doesn't mean I won't sometimes post if I happen to bang out a chapter :)**

"Mom I made some pasta if you are hungry."

Paige knocked on her bedroom door, her mom had been held up in bed for the last four days and had barley eaten anything. But even that was better than her daughter's strict diet of coffee and bagels.

"Mom?" Paige asked again after not getting a response. "The funerals in two hours, do you want me to pick out a dress for you?" Still nothing.

Opening the door slowly Paige peeked inside, her mother was fast asleep under the covers. Groaning Paige walked over to her mom and tried to shake her awake.

"You were supposed to have been in the shower already."

Paige noticed a yellow pill bottle was open on the nightstand, one of the doctors at the hospital gave it to her to help her sleep.

"Mom you're only supposed to take these at night time." Paige tiered up, she was overwhelmed and frustrated.

Pulling out her phone Paige dialled a familiar number.

"Hello?"

"Scott? Hey, is your mom there?"

"Paige is everything okay? Did you need a ride to the funeral?"

Pulling the phone away from her face Paige took a calming breath.

"No thanks, I just need to ask her a question."

There was movement on the other end, followed by some mumbling.

"Hi sweetheart, Scott said you had a question for me?"

"Yeah, hi. My mom she took one of those strong sleeping pills from the hospital, and I can't wake her up."

Tears fell freely down her cheeks then, her head fell to rest on the side on the bed, her knees pulled up to her chest.

"How many did she take?" Melissa sounded alarmed.

"I don't know, but more than one, is that bad!?" The bottle seemed to be missing a couple pills.

The line when quiet as Melissa mutter something to her son.

"No sweetheart she should be fine, but just in case Scoot and I are going to come over."

"Okay." Paige hung up and let her phone drop to the carpet.

Paige sat on the floor, she didn't move when she heard car doors closing outside, she didn't more when there was a knock on the front door, she didn't even move when Melissa came into her room to check on her mother and Scott knelt in front of her.

"I called Derek, he'll be here soon." He told her.

Paige silently cried, her eyes zoned out on Scott's hands as he rubbed her knees, trying to calm her down.

Derek arrived a couple minutes later replacing Scott on the floor, his hands finding hers.

"Come with me."

Paige let Derek pull her from the floor, but before they reached the door she turned back to look at Melissa.

"She'll be just fine, she just needs to sleep off the medication. I am going to confiscate the rest of the bottle though and stay here until she wakes up, you guys should go to the funeral."

Paige followed both boys to the living room where they set her down on the couch, her tears drying on her cheeks.

"My feet hurt." Paige whimpered.

Derek and Scott looked down to see the cut around her feet seemed to look redder and swollen than before. Derek silently nodded to the other wolf where the first aid kit was.

"Have you been walking around on them a lot?" Derek asked her gently.

Paige looked at him, "I had to take care of my mom."

Derek sighed, accepting the aid box from Scott when he re-entered the room. Paige watched again as Derek cleaned her wounds and instead of leaving them to air dry, he wrapped both her feet in gauze to keep them clean.

"You need to stay off your feet for a little while." He told her softly.

Paige shook her head, "I have to get us ready for the funeral."

Derek shook his head but Scoot was the one who spoke.

"My mom's got yours taken care of, you just need to worry about you."

Paige sniffled, "I need to shower."

.

The funeral was nice, there were pretty flowers and it was outside, like most Beacon Hills funerals. Mrs, K slept through it, leaving her daughter to represent alone; some of their family had stayed for the funeral and they all took turns throwing dirt into an open grave.

Once it was over Derek took Paige back to his place instead of her parents house after some debit. It was Scott's reassurance in the end that her mother would be looked after that Paige agreed. Everyone seemed to know that she was the one that needed looking after, except her. A steady stream of tears had been leaking down from her eyes since she'd found her mom.

"Paige."

Derek sat on the edge of his bed, his eyes followed Paige as she stood looking out the large glass window.

"I feel like I'm drowning in a tub of ice. The surface is so close but I can't seem to break it to pull in a breath, but even if I could get a breath, the water is so cold that it would steal the air from my lungs." Paige shivered, "I feel like I've been slowly freezing since I've been back."

"I don't know what the means."

Derek watched her closely, the way she was speaking worried him.

"The only thing I feel is the stinging on my feet, I feel like Theo's sister must have felt that night in the river. The night I let her die."

Derek stood from the bed, "You didn't do anything."

"Exactly, I can't save anyone. At least Stiles has a fucking bat."

Taking her upper arm in his hand, Derek turned Paige to face him. She had a lazy look about her and those brown eyes of hers seemed dull.

"Bite me."

Derek backed away like she had pushed him, his hand pulling back from her skin as if he'd been burned. She did not just say what he thinks she said.

"Excuse me?"

"You gave it to Isaac, Erica and Boyd."

"Yeah, and you see how well that turned out, Only one of them is left standing. Their lives weren't going great for them, I used their teenage vulnerability against them for my own gain."

Since that didn't seem to work for her, Paige tried a different angle.

"Erica would have stayed if you'd fucked her."

Paige watched his eye brows shoot up, "Why are you trying to make me angry?"

"I'm not."

"Yeah, you are... You keep looking at the alarm clock by the bed. Where do you have to be right now?"

Paige crossed her arms over her chest, she didn't like the way he was looking at her.

"No where."

Derek mimicked her stance, crossing his arms over his chest, "I don't believe you."

"We use to be honest with each other about everything."

"Distance is hard Paige but its working and we'll be fine."

Derek had meant in relation to her going away to college.

"The problem isn't the distance Derek, the problem is when we are back here. Beacon Hills does nothing but cause problems for us. I always know what's going on with you when I'm at school."

"You didn't tell me when you got attacked." Derek said trying to prove a point, because he knew where this was going it always comes back to one thing.

"Because you'd go on a rampage."

"Why don't you skip all the excuses and skip right to Kate."

Paige froze. "I didn't say that."

"No but that is where this was going. We always end up fighting about Kate. We were fine and happy for the first few months of our relationship until I cheated on you and ran off with her."

"Yeah she was a problem back then and she's a problem now."

"I can't control her! The night you told me what she did to you I was prepared to end it then and kill her, you held me back!"

"For the good of the pack! Just because your eyes aren't red anymore doesn't mean that you aren't an alpha figure."

"Alpha's make decisions that what I was trying to do"

"Not when you are risking the lives of your pack!"

The couple were basically yelling at this point, thankfully no one else lived in this building or they'd be getting a noise complaint.

Paige cursed looking down at the bandages that cover her feet, the white material was slowly turning red. She's managed to rip one of the scabs off her foot during their fight.

"Sit I'll get the first aid kit." Derek's voice still carried some of the fire from their argument.

Paige held her hand up, "Don't bother."

Derek watched as she walked down the stairs, when she was out of sight he threw himself back onto the bed. How the hell had this even turn into a fight?

Paige's phone went off on the night stand, in case it was her mom or Scott's mom, Derek peeked at the screen.

 **I've thought about what you said, Can we meet up again? –Theo**

Derek growled, phone in hand he carried it down to the living room. Paige had bandages spread all over the floor, drops of blood falling on a towel that was put down.

"I think your little talk with Theo in the woods worked." He dropped the phone in her lap.

The air was still thick with tension between them, but this was business, they could put their feelings aside for the good of the pack.

Paige started typing, but stopped after a couple of words. This wasn't just her decision to make.

"Am I accepting?"

Derek clenched his jaw but nodded.

"There sent. I'm meeting him tomorrow afternoon at a coffee shop."

The wolf watched his mate get back to work re-bandaging her cuts, slowly he lowered till he was on his knees.

"I know I hurt you, I know having Kate back here is tough on both of us. I can't keep having that mistake being thrown in my face every time you want to win a fight."

"You brought her up this time not me." He frowned. "Sorry, I know. I never mean to bring it up, I know you were hurting back then too. You lost your family and I know that was the real reason you left and not her. I don't want to keep throwing her at you but it hurts me that she's here, and the things she says about the two of you make me sick."

Paige looked up a Derek with watery eyes, her bleeding foot forgotten.

"She lies Paige, but I know that some of the things she says are true... We did sleep together and we did it while we were together, she may have seduced me, but I did it knowing that if you found out it would hurt you. I never intended to tell you, it was Kate's and mine secret."

That was the first time Derek had said he and Kate slept together out loud, and it was the first time the couple had really talk about it, not just parts.

"If I ask you a question will you answer honestly?" He nodded, "Do you miss her? When you see her now do you wish you were still with her?"

"No, I never loved her. She took me away from the one person who I loved and I knew loved me back."

Paige nodded. "But she was offering you something I wasn't."

"I wasn't with her for the sex. Peter had been pressuring me to give you the bite, the alpha pack was in town, I'm not trying to justify what I did, but Kate was the perfect distraction to distance myself with. But I never planned on doing anything with her. She offered me an escape that I needed for my real life, looking back to that night I wish I would have just showered after that basket ball game and went directly to the music room. Instead I let Kate pull me in."

"Is that why you gave so much shit to Scott about dating Alison?"

"He was newly bitten and she was a hunter, that was never going to turn out well. The Argent factor was also not appealing but not entirely the reason."

"I never really gave Alison a chance." _And now she's dead, just like my father._

Derek kissed Paige's forehead, he could hear the words she didn't say out loud.

"Can I help you wrap your foot now?"

Paige nodded handing over the stack of bandages beside her, in her anger Paige might have spilled most of the condense from the first aid bag.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

 **I like this chapter, we finally get to what the first 9 chapters have been building toward. I hope you guys like it :)**

"Stiles if you don't shut up-"

The boy in question laughed, "What are you going to do Derek? That's right nothing, not with Paige here- Ahh!" He yelled getting a punch to the arm.

"Seriously?" Paige rolled her eyes at the childlike behavior happening beside her. "I'm already nervous enough."

"I told you, you didn't have to do this, I can just as easily-"

"NO." Paige stopped Derek, "He text me, if you go in there he's just going to run out the back."

"Sit at the table by the windows and don't go anywhere with him we can't see you."

"Believe it or not this isn't my first undercover mission." Paige teased, opening the car door.

"Yeah I remember." Stiles got another punch to the shoulder.

Stiles groaned in pain and grabbed his arm, shrinking down in the back seat. He didn't say anything, he knew that punch was from not telling Derek when he and Paige had been following Theo into a dark forest.

Paige entered the coffee shop and spotted Theo already seated over by the side wall, hiding her displeasure Paige walked over to the wolf smiling.

"Thanks for meeting me."

She shrugged. "You messaged me and I came. I'm not one to turn someone down who needs my help."

The smirk that slid over Theo's face, sent a shiver down Paige's back.

"You mentioned Kate. You think that we are somehow involved together." Paige nodded. "Because your boyfriend use to fuck with her."

Paige flinched at the harsh language, he was mocking her.

"If that's all you brought me here for, to annoy me. Then you can forget it."

Theo's hand grabbed her wrist tight enough to cause a little bit of pain, Paige sat up in her chair trying not to show how much he was hurting her.

"Stay." He all but growled.

Someone tisked from behind them, "Hey now handsome, you shouldn't bring those out in public."

"Kate." Paige hissed, she hadn't noticed Theo's claws cutting into her skin. "Still corrupting youth?"

The older women chuckled, "Derek hasn't gotten rid of you yet?"

Paige rolled her eyes, Kate's digs were getting old. "That wasn't even clever, you're really losing it in your old age."

Theo retracted his claws, as soon as her hand was released Paige pulled her arm under the table and dabbed the blood off with the table napkin.

Kate suddenly looked out the window and smiled, "Time's up."

Everything happened fast after that, Kate pulled Paige from her seat and threw her toward Theo who had arms open to catch her. The three of them moved to the back of the dinner where the back entrance is. Before Paige could even get a word out she was thrown into a car and held down by Theo while Kate stepped on the gas.

"Get off me!" Paige yelled from underneath Theo.

Kate laughed, "You guys should get use to being that close."

Paige didn't even know what the hell she was talking about and she didn't care. She should have let Derek rip her head off when she'd had the chance.

.

Derek and Stiles had been waiting in the car for a little under 5 minutes. The entire time the boy had been blabbing about how Derek had anger issues and blah blah when Derek felt a tingle go up his spin.

"Be quiet." He demanded sitting up in his seat.

"See, that right there is what I'm talking about."

"Shut up!" That got the boys attention. "Kate's here."

"You mean your crazy psychotic ex girlfriend Kate?"

Derek shot him a deadly glare as if to say _who the fuck else dumbass!_ Stiles held his hands up in surrender, but the wolf wasn't paying attention to him anymore, he was already halfway across the street. Stiles clumsily followed after him, getting to the dinner 10 seconds later.

"Shit." Stiles muttered following Derek's gaze.

On one of the dinner tables was a small puddle of blood and on the back of one of the chairs was Paige's bag.

One of the waiters came up to them, "If you are looking for the people who were just sitting there, they went out the back a couple seconds ago."

But Derek already knew that, he could hear the muffled voice of his girlfriend, followed by the roar of an engine.

.

"I think you can get off me now." Paige snapped at Theo, his body still covered hers in the back seat of the car as Kate speed through the streets of beacon hills. "What are you trying to pull Kate? You clearly knew Derek was nearby and you still decided to mess with me."

"Just wait and see."

Paige scoffed, "You've been saying that since I got back to town, I am starting to think you all talk."

Theo smirked down at Paige as if he knew something she didn't, all the confidence that she'd had seconds ago melted away. Derek would find her this time and when he does, Paige knows that Kate doesn't have a hope in hell to make it out alive.

.

Derek ran angrily back toward his car, Stiles tripping behind him trying to keep up.

"Derek we should call the rest of the pack." Stiles huffed.

"No." He growled. "I've let Kate live too long. All that bitch has done is tear Paige and I apart, it's time I do the same to her. Besides I know where she's taking her."

Derek ducked into the drives seat locking the doors before Stiles had even gotten to the door.

"Derek!" He banged on the window.

"Go back to the loft and wait for us there."

"You can't do this by yourself, it's two against one."

He did waste any more time, Derek's foot push the gas pedal. The tires protested and in his review mirror Derek could see stiles waving his arms among the white smoke. The human would be fine, all Derek needed to be worrying about now was his human, his girl.

.

"This place has been cleaned up since we've been here last." Kate taunted. "I can just make out the blood stains in the concert."

Theo had been the one to pull Paige toward the Argent torture chamber; Paige tensed up once she realized where they were. Memories for her time down here came flooding to the forefront of her brain, the numbness, the heartbreak, the pain that came after she was rescued.

"Awe looks like we've got a live one." Theo teased pulled Paige fully into the room.

"Theo please-"

"Strip her down." Kate ordered looking at theo.

Paige froze and Theo seemed to stop moving along with her, even his hands on her loosened.

"Are you Deaf? Strip her down, Derek will be coming for her and I need everything to be in place when he comes through that door."

"Kate."

Kate turned in her spot, her eyes narrowed and looked almost black as she glared at Theo. His hands tightened enough to leave bruises, the first of many Paige assumed, he pulled her against his chest and popped the button of her jeans.

Paige came back to herself in that moment, she started struggling and screaming. From experience she knew no one walking by would be able to hear her yells for help, but screaming helped release some of the panic building in Paige's chest.

Paige thrashed back and forth, her body protesting while she fought against Theo's hold, he grunted when her back slammed into his chest.

"Oh my god." Kate threw her head back and rolled her eyes, "Just chain her up, and cut her damn clothes off with your claws."

"Please no." Paige tried to plead with Theo, when he'd tensed up earlier she thought he was turning on Kate.

"Stop moving!" Theo yelled pushing Paige face first into the chain link fence.

When he flipped her over, Theo's eyes avoided hers like he was keeping something from her. But he didn't miss when Paige's blood dripped from her nose onto his shirt. When he'd pushed her into the fence she'd been unable to protect her face.

When the last shackle was locked around Paige's right ankle she went limp, like the fight had been sucked out of her by the sound of the shackle locking.

"Now that's more like it." Kate smiled coming to stand behind Theo.

The wolf was looking down at the sharp claws protruding from his cuticles. He raised his hands feeling Kate's lips on his neck. Theo made quick work of Paige's clothes until she was chained before him in her panties and bra, goose bumps covered her skin, there was no heat down here what so ever.

Kate raised her eyebrows, "Wow, who is this little number for?" Kate's finger snapped the side of Paige's thong.

Her skin was cold, making the snap of the material sharper, but Paige kept her face neutral. This time was different, she knew Derek would be coming for her.

"He's here." Theo informed Kate.

Both girl listened, their ears straining, a couple seconds later the roar of Derek's car could be heard from the celler.

"Show time." Kate muttered to herself. "You know what to do hansom." She kissed Theo before moving somewhere behind Paige.

The sound of hinges and metal bending filled everyone's ears, sunlight entered the dark space as Derek broke through the door at the top of the stairs. There were the sound of heavy foot falls on the steel spiral staircase, a couple seconds later they stopped and a very pissed off Derek appeared in the doorway. His eyes immediately take in Paige's state of undress and his eyes glowed blue.

"Nice of you to join us this time Derek." Kate smiled, she'd taken position beside Paige.

"I'm giving you two seconds to get the hell away from her because Kate, I swear to god if you touch her I will-" As Derek was saying this he was slowly stalking forward, when all the sudden we wasn't able to get any closer.

Theo chuckled from behind him. "You've gotta love mountain ash."

Derek's heart stopped, her looked down and saw that he was standing in a circle of grey ashes. Turning behind him, Theo stood smirking with a empty jar in his hand. The little weasel had closed the circle once he was inside.

"Kate!"

The women only laughed, she could see Derek's rage in his posture and in his eyes. She had seen his frustration and pain when he'd first entered the room and saw his girlfriend chained up like the animal that he is.

"This is going to be so much more fun with an audience, we didn't have that luxury last time, did we Paige?"

Paige stayed quiet, her eyes had been on Derek since he entered the room and that's where they stayed. He was looking back at her now, his eyes still a cold steal blue.

"Now your quiet? That just don't do, these boys came for a show."

Theo flipped on of the power switched on the far wall sending electricity to the metal fence at Paige's back. She immediately arched away but couldn't go far with the shackles keeping her in place.

"Kate!" Derek growled, Paige's scream too much for his ears.

"What was that Derek, you want me to turn the power up?" Seconds later Paige screamed even louder, Derek could see the tears running down her face. "You know what you have to do Paige, all you need is-"

"No!" Paige yelled, her words confused Derek and seemed to anger Kate.

The blonde nodded, "Kill the power." Seconds later the buzz of electricity stopped and Paige fell back against the fence, her body shaking.

Paige let out a sad whimper, she didn't want to say it, but the amount of electricity running through her body was too much, Kate had never turned on the fence the last time they were down here.

"You didn't like that did you Paigie? I remember something you did like."

Paige slowly lifted her head just enough so she could see what Kate was doing, as soon as she saw what Kate was refusing too she started resisting her chains.

"What is that?" Derek demanded to know, he'd never seen Paige react like that.

Kate silently bent in front of Paige, attaching little metal clips to her fingers. The sound of rushing water filled all of their ears as Theo held a bucket up to a sink tap.

"Paige!" Derek yelled trying to get her attention, but she kept her head down, no longer willing to look him in the eyes.

The sounded of running water stopped and Theo carried the full bucket toward the front of the room.

Paige whimpered, "Please don't" her voice was so quiet Derek bet Kate didn't hear, even though she was right next to the source.

Kate gave a little nod of her head and Theo threw the ice cold water onto Paige, soaking her completely. The electric fence even sizzled from the cold hitting it's warm wires. Paige wiggled and gasped, she felt like her body had been injected with some kind of muscle relaxant, her brain hurt and her limbs weren't cooperating, but that wasn't because of the ice water. Kate's finger prongs had started biting into her finger tips, pinching her nerves.

"I'll kill you!" Derek growled, he didn't know what was happening but he could feel that Paige was in pain.

"How do you feel now?" Kate asked, Derek's eye brows scrunched at her tone, she sounded like she was trying to seduce her.

When Paige whimpered and gasped Derek gritted his teeth, "Get your hands off her."

"Don't worry Derek, I didn't make her all sensitive for that reason, though Theo is more than welcome to take a spin when I'm done. With her body on high alert like this, it makes what I'm about to do all the more painful."

Derek continued to shout, threatened and growled, while Kate tortured and mocked, Theo watched and Paige took everything that was happening to her.

But after three hours of torture, pain and screams Derek knew he could like Paige continue on like this. He'd even tried offering himself up to Kate but she wouldn't budge, so he did the only thing he could possibly do. Roar!


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

"I'm telling you Scott I don't know where they are."

The wolf looked over at his best friend, "We can't just leave them out there and hope for the best. Kate needs to be stopped, did Derek tell you what she did to Paige back when they were in high school?" Stiles shook his head. "It's not good, she tortured her and left her to starve only to barley make it out a live, she tried to kill herself a couple weeks later."

Stiles thought he was going to throw up, "We have to find them somehow I-" The faint sound of Derek's roar reached both boys ears, their eyes widen as they look at each other. "That is not good."

"I know where they are, come on!" Scott yelled running toward the blue jeep.

"Maybe we should bring back up?"

Isaac came running out of the McCall house hold, "You've got it." Jumping into the back seat of the vehicle.

"Were you easdropping this whole time?" Stiles asked backing out of the drive way.

He shrugged, "I get lonely."

"He get's lonely." Stiles mocked giving his best friend a 'can you believe this guy' look.

"Drive!" Scott yelled, something about Derek's roar caused his stomach to turn; he wasn't going to like what they found when they arrived.

.

"That was cute." Kate mocked, smiling up at Derek. "You really think anyone can here you, this place was built to contain your kind."

"Paige!" Derek shouted as her head fell to her chest, hair blocking his view of her face.

Her heartbeat was slow which worried him, while Paige was being tortured her heart was racing at a dangerous speed and in the last two minutes her heart slowed down dangerously.

Kate walked over to the young girl, "Paige." She picked up the girls face only to let it fall back to her chest when it was obvious she wasn't conscious. Walking over to her table of tools Kate looked at them thoughtfully.

"I will do anything." Derek begged. "Kate-"

"Theo, take Paige into the back room."

Derek's head shot up, a growl climbing from deep in his chest. Kate couldn't possibly be serious, this had to be above her.

Theo seemed to be thinking along the same lines as Derek, his eyes widened and he looked from Kate, to Derek, to Paige handing from her chains.

Kate looked up from her table of tools when she didn't hear any movement behind her.

"What are you a virgin?" Kate joked, "First I had to convince you to take her clothes off and now you won't take a almost naked girl into the back room?"

"I have a sister." Theo said as if that would explain his hesitation.

Derek felt hope rise in his chest but it was quickly destroyed by Kate's next words.

Kate scoffed. "You murdered your sister."

That seemed to switch something in Theo, his eyes went blank and his sights set in on Paige.

"I will rip your damn head off! If you touch her I swear to god you won't make it out of this basement alive. Paige!" Derek slammed his fists against the force field of mountain ash, the only thing keeping his hands from Theo and Kate's heart.

Paige let out a whimper interrupting Derek's threatening, Theo un cuffed the ankle shackles and wrist, catching her as she falls into him, not able to support her own body.

A loud crash sounded from the top of the stairs, metal grinding against metal. Derek Heard two different steps of confident coordinated and a third more spastic clumsy pair. Theo disappeared into the back room with Paige the moment three teenage boys burst into the room.

"Stiles get me out!" Derek commanded, he was ready to spring as soon as the circle was broken.

Scott was quick to move toward Kate when she tried to sneak around them and toward the exit "You aren't going anywhere.".

"Keep her here!" Derek demanded running toward the back room, Isaac following behind him.

The room was empty, with no sign of Theo, Paige on the other hand was covered in a wool blanket and the color seemed to be returning to her cheeks. Derek reached out for her, when his hands found her cheek he felt himself shake, she was untouched.

"Go after him." Derek growled to Isaac who followed his order without question.

Paige's mouth opened, a small sigh left her lips, the space between her eye brows scrunching up.

"You're going to be okay." Derek told her pulling her into her chest. "I'll be right back."

Derek pulled himself together enough to leave Paige's side, he needed to finish things with Kate he won't make this mistake again.

"Chain her to the fence."

Both Scoot and Stiles looked at him like he was crazy, Kate smirked not showing any emotion beyond her cockiness.

"I wouldn't look so smug if I were you." Derek growled, "I said chain her up!"

"Okay, jeez chill out." Stiles muttered under his breath. "Chain the girl up already." He told Scott earning a scowl.

"Stiles go sit with Paige." The alpha pointed toward the back room, the young boy followed directions with a nod.

Scott finished locking one of the chains around Kate's wrist as Isaac dragged Theo back into the room.

"Caught this one at the bridge over the river." Isaac said pulling Theo toward Kate.

.

"You look like a burrito." Stiles said, uncomfortable with the way Paige looked in this moment. Sickened because he knew it was her pants and top he saw on the ground out in the main room.

"I'm over heating." Paige mutter, her throat raw from hours of screaming.

Stiles bit his lip, "I have your muddy clothes from that night we followed Theo into the woods. You forgot them in my jeep after you changed, they are a little tattered but they'd be better than nothing."

Paige nodded, she wanted to get dressed so she could get the hell out of here, this whole placed smelled of copper and static.

Stiles took the back door as to not interfere with whatever was happening in the main room, he ran to get back to Paige as soon as he could, she was in the exact same spot as he'd left her, wrapped up on the table.

"I'll turn around." Stiles blushed handing over the clothes.

Paige looked down, she could still feel how damp and disgusting her bra and panties felt on her skin, she knew from the way she was slouched while seated that it was going to be a challenge to dress herself, let alone stand up for more than a couple seconds.

"I'm going to need some help Stiles."

"Me, what, why, be he, I mean Derek he wouldn't like-" Something about how vulnerable Paige looked in that moment caught Stiles to become speechless. "Of course I'll help you, just don't tell Derek okay, I value being able to see out of both eyes."

Paige cracked a smile at the boys antics, he really was one of her favourites out of the group. She knew he was Derek's too, even if he denied it.

.

"You can't just kill them." Isaac tried to reason with the alpha who'd been shaking with anger at the sight of Kate and Theo before him.

"They deserve it."

Scott sighed, "Believe me I know how you feel-"

"No you don't!"

"I care about Paige too, she's my friend. I don't know all of what happened tonight, but Stiles told me about before. I understand, but there is a better way."

"No there isn't." Derek was walking toward the switch Kate had used to turn the electricity in the fence on.

"Derek?" Paige's voice stopped his fingers mid switch flick.

Looking to his left he was her, she was dressed in dirty pants and her shirt was ripped with a small about of dried blood on it. Her eyes were sunken in and her face was pale, her eyes looked haunted as she look over at him. Stiles at her side keeping her on her feet as she leaned into his body for warmth or support, possibly both.

"I'll deal with them later." Derek spoke to Scott and Isaac, "Make sure you chain a leg too, I don't want them going anywhere."

Moving forward the alpha reached out for his mate, her hand shaking but she reached out for him as well. They walked toward the exit together, when they got to the door Derek picked Paige up and carried her out to his car, turning on the heat seeing her shiver in her seat.

When Derek turned around the guys were coming out of the grey drab building, if he listened hard enough he could hear Theo whining to Kate.

"They won't be going anywhere." Scott assured Derek.

Stiles tried to look around the alpha to see Paige slumped in the car. "She going to be okay?"

Derek still shook with rage, "I'm going to take her back to my place, I'll keep here there until I've dealt with them."

Isaac looked behind him, "Who are you going to deal with them?"

Derek just gave them a look, they all knew Kate and Theo weren't making it out of that basement alive.

.

"I can walk." Paige said climbing out of Derek's car only to fall back against it.

Derek sighed pulling her into his chest, she nuzzled again him feeling suddenly cold. Derek shifted her into his arms, her stomach feeling instantly sick from the back and forth motion. Squeezing her eyes shit tight, Paige prayed to some kind of god, begging them to keep her from throwing up all over her boyfriend.

Relief spread through her body when she was placed down onto his bed, but Paige didn't want to go to bed now she needed to clean up, get the feeling of Kate's cruelty off her skin.

"Do you want a change of clothes?" Derek was eye level bent down in front of the bed.

"I want to showed."

He looked down then back up into her tired eyes, "Babe I don't think that's a good idea right now, you can shower once you've gotten some rest."

"Shower first." Paige fought back but there was no strength in her voice.

Derek sat there for a moment looking at his girl, she was tired, sweaty, cut up and her body and been put though a lot tonight, but so had her mind. If taking a shower was going to allow her to get the rest she needed he wouldn't stop her.

Holding out his hand to her, Derek lead Paige into the bathroom, but kept the light off, the sun would still be up for another few hours and the small window let just enough light through so that the couple could see.

Stripping them both down Derek help Paige close to him as they silently showered. He helped gently wash the dried blood from her body, trying to relax his own as their day flashed before his eyes. Once the conditioner was rinsed from her hair and all the suds had been washed down the drain Derek carried them back to the bedroom where he'd place clean clothes before the shower. He helped Paige pull on one of his old beacon hills hoodies, which fell to mid thigh on her followed by her leggings, tugged on grey sweat pants and a black shirt himself then quickly crawled in beside her.

They lay quietly together, neither one knowing when they fell asleep, they only knew it wasn't for long. Derek watched over Paige, listening to the comfortable rhythm of her heart beating and her breath as she fell in and out of sleep.

Once the clock on the bedside table hit 3:00am Derek knew he couldn't stay in this bed anymore, he needed to get back to Kate and Theo, he couldn't lay here knowing that they were still breathing.

"Stiles." He spoke into the phone once the young boy answered. "I need you to come stay with Paige."

Derek wished he could have asked Scott to stay with her but he knew Paige would feel better waking up to Stiles, the two seemed to have bonded over the past couple of years.

"You're leaving her."

"I'm ending this tonight."

Stiles sighed, then went quiet while he fumbled around in the dark looking around for a sweater.

"I'll be there." He said definitively and then hung up.


	12. Chapter 12

**CHAPTER 12**

 **I'm a college grad now, all this free time for writing has seems to have opened up :P**

Paige slept through Stiles showing up and Derek leaving but it wasn't peaceful, she tossed and turned whimpering.

Stiles looked over at her from the floor to ceiling window, their little group living in beacon hills has been though a lot during these past few years since Scott had been bitten by Peter. Paige however had been dealing with wolves since she was their age and she seemed to be getting the rough end of the stick lately.

"Maybe you should be going back to the school next week." Stiles muttered.

"Derek?"

Stiles stumbled away from the wall, he hadn't noticed that Paige had woken up.

"No, he uhh- he went out."

Paige smiled shyly, "And called you here to baby sit me at- 6am?"

"Hey, if anything I'm an underpaid nanny." He laughed along with her. "How are you doing?"

"Fine." He raised an eyebrow, "I'm cut up, have bruises in some places, nothings as bad as being back in that room though, when we got back last night I wanted to get the feeling of what she had done off of me, same as I did that night I walked into the ocean."

"You tell Derek that?"

She shook her head, "He's already down on himself, besides he's here this time- well not here, here. You know what I mean."

"Me too, I'm always here for ya."

"He went to take care of Kate and Theo didn't he?" His silence was answer enough. "Guess we are going for a drive."

Stiles panicked when Paige threw the blanket off of her and slowly got to her feet, while she looked better than she did when they found her, she was still rough around the edges.

"You really think that's smart."

"What, you afraid of my boyfriend?"

"Yes! Why would you want to go back to that place anyway?"

Paige furrowed her brow, "I don't."

.

"Left at the lights." Paige instructed, it took a little convincing and some up talk to finally get Stiles to go on a little adventure.

"You should have seen him back at the cafe once he realized they'd took you. You know when Scott and I first meet Derek we thought he was scary, he didn't half as scary as he looks whenever you are involved."

"It sounds like you are trying to convince me to stay with him."

"No I just, he really loves you. He's lost a lot in his life, I know he's lost you before but he's always gotten you back because I think you are the only person in his life he can't stand to lose."

"I know that."

"You do?" He sounded doubtful.

"He's overprotective, extremely so. I use to think it was just a wolf thing or a jealously thing, but a couple years ago I realized it was an I love you thing. After the Hale fire Derek was so damaged, he's lost everything and I know most days he still feels that pain. When he's protective, no matter how annoying it is, I know it come from his heart."

Stiles stopped at the red light and looked over at her, "That's actually kind of beautiful."

Paige smiled softly, looking up as the light turned green. "Go right."

.

"Back so soon, Paige already get sick of ya?" Kate mocked seeing the young wolf walk into the basement.

"You're done Kate, you really want those to be your last words?"

"Listen man." Theo said, "I'm sorry for what I did, I was just following orders, you have to let me go."

Kate scoffed, "Spineless, this is the last time I use teenagers to carry out my plans."

"This is the last time either of you will be doing anything." Derek growled, arms crossed tightly over his chest.

Theo panicked, "You can't kill us, people will look for me."

"That is where you are wrong, no one will be looking for you. You want to live? You shouldn't have taken the one person I still care about. "

"I'm surprised you left her alone, considering she's a high risk for suicide."

Derek lunged forward, his claws capturing Kate's neck, the tip digging in and drawing blood.

"Finale words?"

Kate smirked, "Do you fuck her all wild and crazy like you use to fuck me or is that little girl too-" Derek squeezed cutting into Kate's windpipe, her eyes widened as she tried to gasp for breaths that never came.

"Man I swear to god!." Theo begged, if Derek didn't know any better he thought he saw tears in her eyes.

Ripping the chain from the fence Derek uncuffed Theo glaring at him, "If I ever see you in beacon hills again your hearts going to be on the outside of your body.

"Understood." Theo stammered stumbling quickly toward the entrance. "I'll leave tomorrow mor-"

"You'll leave tonight, now!"

"Night, that's what I said." Theo ran from the building while he still had the chance.

Derek looked back at Kate's now lifeless body, he felt a sick sense of relief rush through his body. Ever since he was a teenager she had been screwing with his life and had been the wedge that drove him and Paige apart, she'd been the women who attacked the girl he loved and now, now she was dead.

"Derek." His head shot up hearing Paige's voice.

He walked toward her quickly, blocking her view of Kate, "What the hell are you doing here?"

"You left Stiles to baby sit me. I decided to use him as a chauffeur instead." Derek shook his head "Don't pretend to be mad at him, he was doing what I asked."

"Pretending?"

Paige decided to ignore that last comment, "We made a quick stop before coming here."

Derek raised a brow. "And where did you go exactly."

"I went to visit my dad, to say goodbye." That confused him, Paige didn't strike him as the kind of girl to go visit dead relatives for kicks. "I decided to go back to school next week, it's what he wanted. Besides with no evil blonde bitches around I don't have to worry about you so much."

"You're going back to school. What about your mom."

"Scott's mom called me a couple days after the funeral, we were fighting at the time and I didn't want to tell you but, she thinks it would be smart to enrol my mom in a rehab center. Apparently this isn't the first time over the last couple years that she's taken a couple pills too many, now with the added stress of my dad she needs to be in a safe place."

"I'm sorry."

Paige shook her head, "It's what needs to be done, besides I still have a couple days left before I have to go back."

Derek pulled Paige into his arms, "We should get back to the loft, you still need some time to recover." His hands ran down her sides, stilling when he felt a rip in her shirt and a sticky residue.

Pulling away he saw blood on his hand and the guilty look on Paige's face didn't do much to put him at ease.

"I tripped."

"On what a blade? Where the hell were you tonight!"

Paige flinched as Derek's roar echoed throughout the entire room.

"I was at the cemetery."

He eyed her, "Where else?"

They were interrupted by Stiles "uh guys not to interrupt what I can tell is a heartfelt discussion but Mr Argent just pulled up and he's not alone."

Derek pulled Paige into his body. "Did he see you?"

"I don't think so."

"Good, we need to get out of here, my car is around back" Derek informed, pushing Paige toward the back door Stiles followed behind them.

"What's our plan?" Stiles asked.

"I'll let you know when I have one."

Stiles scoffed, "You just killed the man's sister, you really think he's not going to come looking for whoever did this."

"Shut up and get in the damn car." Derek snapped, helping Paige into the front.

"Oh god." Stiles whined doing what he was told, "I know I should have kept you at the loft."

"Yeah maybe next time you'll listen when I give you instructions." The boys fought.

Paige spoke up then, "If you are looking to make a clean get away then stop fighting and step on it."

.

"You can't leave me here." Paige snapped angrily at her boyfriend.

"I am and you are going to stay put, for once."

The couple stood outside of the train car Derek and his old pack use to live in, Scott have driven out to join them and he and Stiles stood inside avoiding the fight happening a couple of feet away.

"You are going to get yourself killed, Mr Argent might not like Kate but she's his sister, he covered for her when she hurt me last time. He'd not going to be forgiving just because she got what was coming to her."

"I'll be careful." Derek already had a plan in his head, she wasn't going to sway him.

Paige grabbing his hand shakily and pulled him around to the other end of the train car, she wanted to be out of sight for what she was about to do next.

"Don't leave me." Her voice dropped an octave or two, her eyes looking up at his through her lashes.

It was mean and a cheap shot, Paige knew that but she didn't have anything else working for her. The full moon was in a couple of days, she knew it was already having an effect on the wolves.

Derek stood with his arms crossed, "I know what you're doing."

Paige bit her lip, pulling Derek into her by slipping two index fingers into the top of his jeans and tugging. He groaned at the contact not able to help his bodies reaction to hers.

"Stay. I need you." Her words held a double meaning and they both knew it.

Derek sucked in a deep breath, her scent was all around him, her arousal potent in the room. Derek internally rolled his eyes when he heard Scott telling Stiles they should go on a pizza run.

Paige sighed with relief when she felt Derek's large hands creep up her thigh and circle around her hips. They turned her so her back was now flat to his chest, his hands having already worked the button on her jeans open making it easier for him to slide her panties aside.

"Is this what you want?" Derek asked roughly, his fingers slipping inside her already wet lips.

Paige gasped and jerked forward at the violent flick that he delivered to her clit, her body responding powerfully to his fingers as they worked her over.

One hand on her soft belly, the other running over her slit Derek waited, waited until she was just about to come, as soon as her belly tightened he pulled away, licking his finger clean.

Sliding his hands up her body Derek removed her shirt and unclip her bra tossing it to the ground.

"That wasn't nice." Paige gasped, still reeling from behind so close to having it be taken away from her so suddenly.

"I could say the same about you." Derek muttered turning her in his arms to capture her lips.

Paige let Derek lift her, his jeans and hers protecting them from each other, but it wouldn't be long till they joined the rest of the items on the floor and he was between her legs.

"No more." Paige whined, trying to pull away when Derek sucked her hard and fast.

He held her hips tightly, humming his protest only causing her more pleasure as his hum seemed to reverberate through her body. With one finale suck he pulled away and climbed up her body kissing as he went.

"Are the guys still here?" Paige sounded panicked, suddenly remembering them.

Derek smirked, "You think I'd let them listen to you come? They left a while ago." No need to mention they'd be back in less than an hour and then he'd be heading out to deal with Argent.

Paige relaxed under him, her legs falling open so Derek could fit between them. Grabbing his cock, Derek rubbed it up and down her slit loving the view as Paige squirmed and whimpered beneath him. Slowly he allowed himself to sink into her, she insides quaked and squeezed tight, Derek paused only half himself buried in her.

"Relax baby." Derek muttered, massaging her clit with his thumb sinking the rest of the way inside her. "How do you feel."

Paige's head was hidden in his neck, "Full." Her words were breathless. He moved then, his control only half there was he felt her wrapped tightly around him.

He was fast and hard as he took her, it wasn't too long ago he thought he may possibly never be able to hold her like this, feel her like this ever again.

His name fell from her lips as she felt the flutter in her stomach telling her she was close. He kissed her lips and her neck before sitting back on his bent legs, he wanted to watch her as she came. Her face flushed, her head thrown back, her mouth open as she snapped, forcing him to come with her.

They lay in silence for a moment looking up at the metal roof of the train car, both breathing returned to normal.

"You're going to leave now."

Derek looked over surprised, "I want this finished, everything will be wrapped up before you go back to school."

Paige bit her lip but nodded, she knew this meant more to Derek than it did to her, Kate killed his family, the Argent's had caused him a lot of pain, he needed this closure and who was she to stand in his way.


	13. Chapter 13

**CHAPTER 13**

 **This will be the last chapter for a little bit, I need to figure out what the second plot is going to be. If anyone has anything they might want to see happen next message me :)**

Derek had Paige get dressed before he left so he knew the boys wouldn't get a free show if they came back early and then he left.

Paige laid on the bed clothed and suddenly feeling very hungry, she knew the boys would have taken the long way back to avoid a show. When she heard footsteps coming down the concert stairs only minutes after Derek left she went ridged. Scrambling to her feet Paige tried to hold her breath, if it was Stiles and Scott there would have been two sets of footsteps.

"I can hear your heart beating, I just want to talk."

Paige scoffed, he knew where she was, no point in trying to hide, "Right, like you just wanted to talk yesterday at the cafe."

Paige moved out of the train car to see Theo, he kept his distance standing near the stairs.

"Kate's everything you said she was, I was just too caught up to listen."

"You can't expect me to believe that, you still murdered your own sister."

To her surprise Theo flinched at her words, "I did, I can't explain it to you-"

"I don't want your explanation! I want you to get the hell out of my life."

He nodded, "I will, but I need a favour first."

Paige threw her hands up, "You are kidding right. What in the hell makes you think for one second that I would-"

"I knew it was unlikely that you would help me but I came here anyway because you are my last option."

"And only?" He nodded in agreement. "The guys are going to be back soon."

Theo took in her arms crossed over her chest, her messy hair and crinkled clothes. But there was something in her eyes that told him to push one last time.

"I know there is something wrong inside me, I wasn't very old when I killed her and ever since then I've been running from that side of myself. Kate came along at a time I really needed her and suddenly the evil seemed not as unbeatable. In that basement I liked seeing her hurt you, liked watching you scream while your boyfriend stood helpless. There was also a part of me that remembered you as that little girl my sister use to play with."

"What is the favour?"

"I need you to help me find Deaton."

Paige paused, "Why are you looking for him?"

Theo's eyes lit up, "So you know where he is?"

"I'm familiar with him. Why do you want to find him?"

"He's the only one who can fix what the dread doctors broke inside of me."

Paige bit her lip, Derek asked her to stay in the train station so he could go take care of Argent, by going with Theo she wouldn't be interfering with his plans. That was a cheap copout and she knew it, Derek would be pissed when he found out she was gone, especially when the person in her company was Theo.

"You have till the sun goes down, if Stiles and Scott don't call Derek once they find I'm missing we'll only have a couple of hours until he gets back himself, you need to be out of town by then."

"I can work with that."

Paige took the time to write out a short note to the boys, begging them to trust her and not call Derek. She knew Scott would smell Theo in the building, she hoped he could come inside long enough to read her message.

.

Paige got Theo to the pet clinic and got everything taken care of before she caught one of the busses she knew would take her close to the old subway station. She'd been gone for over 3 hours and knew that Scott and Stiles would have been back hours ago. Stiles had only called her twice and sent her one texted saying _I hope you know what you are doing._

Paige was about a mile out from the station when she tripped over her own feet and went rolling down into a rocky area. She'd been strung up and tortured less than a day ago and she was exerting too much energy, she knew that but still kept on but slowed down her pace.

"There you are, you are lucky you made it back before Derek, I was not about to cover for you with him." Stiles said when he saw her.

"Are you okay?" Scott stood from his chair smelling blood.

Paige followed his eyes to where they rested on her shirt. _Shit_ , she was covered in mud and her shirt had a couple of holes in it from the tree roots pointing into her side.

"I just fell on my way back, is there any pizza left?"

"Don't give it to her Scott, bad girls don't get pizza."

"This bad girl is about to pass out if she doesn't get any food." Paige caught Stiles eyes and held them in a glare down, she won when he blinked and waved his arms toward a pizza box.

The group sat inside for hours the sun had set a while ago and they'd all taken turns napping and playing cards. Isaac joined them a couple hours in and brought some games and entertainment, but there was still no signs of Derek.

Paige was worried about him, Argent was trained and could kill Derek if he wanted to. Not that Paige didn't believe in her boyfriend fighting skills but sometimes he was a little too cocky.

"You know he's going to smell Theo as soon as he gets close to the building, he's going to smell it even more when he gets a whiff of you." Isaac said looking at Paige over his cards.

Paige sniffed her shirt. "I don't smell anything."

"Besides, the smell of dirt and blood on her will be reason enough for him to kick my ass." Stiles pouted.

She laughed, "Don't worry I'll protect you."

"Protect him from what?" Derek's voice boomed.

Stiles flinched turning around, "It's like he knows!"

Derek was about to ask what the hell Stiles was going on about this time when Paige ruffled her hair, sending a scent he'd never smelled on her before into his nose. Once Stiles went to stand by Scott Derek got a good look at her and noticed the blood and dirt.

"Let's go." Derek nodded at her, turning toward the door not acknowledging anyone else in the room.

Paige looked around at the boys; they all seemed to be shooting her pity glances. When Derek was mad and yelling that was bad but he got over it, this Derek was quiet his rage boiling trapped inside.

"If you don't hear from me in a couple days, come looking will ya?" Paige knew Derek could hear even though she was whispering.

Stiles gave her a thumbs up and the wolves just offered a small smile.

"This is stupid." Paige declared once outside.

"Get in the car."

This is how Derek and Paige were spending their Tuesday night, well considering that the sun was rising, it was Wednesday morning.

Paige was covered head to toe in mud, her shirt was ripped up the side, and Derek could still smell the blood that was drying around her wound.

"I'm your girlfriend not some lost pup, talk to me, how'd your meeting with Argent go?"

He sighed heavily, "Surprisingly well, apparently he never knew it was her who set the fire and killed my family, she was breaking a lot of hunter rules, they should have been the ones to take care of her. I gave him the body and he left, said he wouldn't be a problem to us."

Paige felt relief at his words, there was no possibly outcome that could have been better than that.

"That's great."

Derek laughed without humour shaking his head, "Deaton called me." Paige stiffened. "Said you brought Theo to him and that he got that-he's out of beacon hills."

"I wondered why you didn't say anything, Isaac said the scent was strong in the station."

"It's stronger on you."

Paige faltered, "I- I never touched him."

He nodded, "I wasn't accusing you, I am however going to ask you why you look like you've been mud wrestling."

Paige had yet to stand in the car, the rest air providing her with rational thoughts.

"I was trying to beat you back to the station and I tripped on my way." Derek nodded along while he listened.

"Get in the car."

"Didn't we just do this?"

"It's been a long couple days with less than no sleep, I just want to get you back to the loft, You are pale you should still be resting."

"Now that the crazy had died down I guess we'll have more time for naps."

"I guess so." He opened the car door for her, waiting till she was seated to get in himself.

"Take me home driver."

Derek shook his head at the joke, they both really needed some sleep if their laughter was any indication that their brains were tired as hell and ready for a break.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

 **As you all may know I bounce around between the stories I'm writing and the focus has come back to this one. Happy reading, let me know what you think :)**

"A nap is just what I needed." Paige groaned into her pillow at Derek's.

He laid awake next to her and smiled, Kate was gone and if he was smart Theo would never come near Beacon hills again. And for now his girl was staying in Beacon hills until the fall, but they would deal with that then like they did last year.

Sighing he admitted, "Your mom called a couple times while you were sleeping."

Paige rolled toward him dragging the blankets, "I'm not a very good daughter." Guilt creeping into her heart.

"You've had other things-"

"That's my point, my father died and I've left my mother alone to deal with the loss of her husband." she said biting her thumb nail.

Derek took that hand in his kissing it, "Melissa has been with her, Scott said she's doing better."

"I want to go see her today. This afternoon." He nodded knowing he'd be driving her.

"How are your injuries?" Derek switched up the topic. "You smell healthier."

She laughed, "Is that what you were doing while we were supposed to be sleeping? Checking my phone and smelling me."

"I don't need as much sleep as you do. Besides I was worried."

Paige bit her lip and broke eye contact with Derek to look at his bare chest. He took a deep breath, knowing she was picturing what he'd pictured since it happened. His girl chained up in front of him, the sound of her whimpers as Kate hurt her; a low growl ripped from his chest before he could stop it.

"Kate's a bitch, she left a few scratches and I'm kinda weak from all the shocks but this time as different." He stayed quiet wanting to know why this time around she wasn't driving out to the ocean. "This time you came for me."

He leaned his head down till his nose was in her hair, leaving a kiss on her forehead, "I would have given anything to be there last time."

"I know." She tilted her head back so she could kiss him. "I knew back then too, Kate's just really good at making fiction into fact."

"You don't have to worry about her anymore." Paige nodded resting her head back on the pillow. "I think I need more ice for my foot."

Derek nodded sitting up, his sweatpants ridding low on his hips.

"I'll get you a knew one, and some rubbing alcohol for those cuts so I can bandage them."

Derek raised his eyebrow when Paige smirked, "First your my driver and now my nurse, it's good to have a multi versed boyfriend."

"Next maybe I'll even cook you some breakfast." He said in a playful voice, leaning down to give her another kiss.

"If you keep talking like that I might just have to put a ring on it." She joked back.

.

"I mom." Paige smiled walking toward the women who raised her, Derek was right she did look better since the morning of the funeral.

"Paige." Her mom said happily, seeing to glow at the sight of her daughter.

Scott had gone outside to talk with Derek while Melissa went into the kitchen to give the mother and daughter some privacy.

"Sorry I haven't been around for a while I-" Paige hadn't come up with a normal sounding excuse to tell her mother.

It seemed like someone else had come up with a lie for her, most likely Scott. "Oh don't worry, Melissa told me Derek had to drive you back to school so you could meet with the Dean about returning in the fall. I'm happy you aren't giving up on your dreams Paige."

"It's what we always talked about."

"Yeah your father always wanted to see you cross that stage, there is something else we need to talk about." Her mother sat up, face becoming serious as she took her daughters hands in hers. "Since your father's death I-"

Knowing she was going to apologize for grieving for her husband, "Mom you really don't have to."

"But I do Paige, I lost my life partner far too soon and you lost your father. I lost half of myself, I need to start figuring out who I am without your father. I went back to the house yesterday with Melissa to clean out a couple of things I want to keep in storage, the rest I'm going to slowly give away. I also wanted to apologize for the way I've treated your boyfriend over the past few years." That shocked Paige. "All parents dreads the day their child experiences heart break for the first time and after your suicide attempt- I know you told us it wasn't honey but I could see the truth. But Derek has more than proven himself by being there for you since you've gotten back together."

Paige sniffled, whipping the tears that welled in her eyes, "Thanks mom."

"I love you Paige."

Melissa smiled from the kitchen whipping some tears of her own. She knew from her own experience from Scott how hard it was for him to hide and lie about his 'double life'. When he told her Melissa is ashamed to say she was scared and hid from her own son in her room for weeks. Paige's situation is a little different, she wasn't the one with the secret, the secret belonged to her friends.

.

Derek and Scott sat on the front steps listening to the heart to heart going on inside, while at the same time Scott listened to Derek's update on the Argent situation.

"I can't believe he didn't shoot you between the eyes."

Derek scoffed, "I could smell his anger a mile away, I didn't get close enough to him for the shoot to be that accurate. I told him what Kate had been doing, he wasn't shocked. It seemed like in the back of his mind he already knew but never wanted to think that way about his little sister. I'd be the same if someone had told me those things about Cora."

"Paige goes back to school at the end of the week."

"I want her to stay, but I know she has a couple friends there and it's only two more years before she's back for good." Derek shocked Scott, he usually wasn't this candid with the younger wolf but with all the craziness that had gone down they seemed closer.

"At least she'll leave knowing Beacon hills is down two nut jobs."

"What are you talking about?" Stiles said hopping out of his jeep. "You have one sitting right next to you."

"Ha Ha." Derek flashed his eyes at the human boy.

"Or not." Stiles recanted quickly holding up his hands.

Scott put him out of his misery by changing the topic. "What are we going to do now."

Stiles blinked at him, "Go to school, actually get an education. Hey." He added seeing Paige exiting the house.

"Hey." She smiled at him and Scott before bending down behind Derek, her arms wrapping around his shoulders. "I'm going to take my mom back to the house tonight and stay with her." Derek nodded. "Then tomorrow I'm going to drive her to the valley, her sister lives up there. With me back at school soon she shouldn't be alone."

Derek scratched his stubble, "You're still healing."

Paige kissed the back of his head, "Which is why I'll have Advil, fresh raps and scheduled stops along the way."

Hearing stiles heart beat speed up before he saw what was happening Derek threw his hand up in time to catch the lacrosse stick flying toward them. Stiles had been showing Scott why he didn't need a bat anymore because they'd had a weapon with them all along.

"See." He muttered to Scott while avoiding Derek's glare as he tossed the stick back into the yard.

"Anyway." Paige chuckled, "I'll be back in two days. We are going to take my moms car home so whenever your done playing with the boys you can take off."

"I want a text at all pit stops-"

Stiles decided to be brave and interject with, "Just put a tracking app on her phone, they even put your little cartoon self in the car when you're traveling at fast speeds."

Derek sent him another glare which Stiles tried to match but ended up getting freaked out and looked away, Scott chuckling beside him.

"I promise I'll text you."

They shared a kiss before Paige disappeared back into the house to help her mother pack up the few things she'd managed to pack. They needed to get home and do a lot more packing before their road trip the next morning.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

"I can hear the traffic Paige."

The young girl rolled her eyes even though Derek couldn't see her over the phone, she was almost back to Beacon Hills when she noticed the blue civil had been driving behind her for a while.

"Yes I am aware of your super hearing, How is everyone back home?"

He seemed to pause before answering, "Fine, no one had died since you left two days ago."

"You can't blame me for asking, most of you have died and came back in the time it takes to finish a finales exam."

"They shouldn't have called you I was fine."

"You fought an alpha pack and fell like 6 stories."

"But I wasn't dead. But I get your point, kind of like psychos who stalk around college campuses."

Paige shook her head and held back a sigh, his tone was joking but she knew if Derek was standing in front of her right now his face would be anything but amused.

"I told you he got help for that." Paige commented moving her rear view mirror again feeling like the driver behind her is staring a hole through her face.

As the car drifted closer to the shoulder of the road Paige gasped and quickly corrected herself, bringing all four wheels back onto the highway pavement.

"I'm hanging up now." Derek said about to lose his mind. "And that is exactly why I don't like you driving back from college by yourself."

"No you don't like me driving back by myself because you're a control freak, none of that is why I called." She bantered back. "Do we know anyone who drives a dark blue Civic?"

"Umm I don't like so, why?"

"I um, nothing I just know my aunt was looking into trading her car for a Civic is all, thought I'd get her the number of someone she could talk to. Doesn't really matter, I'll be an extra hour getting back, I told mom I'd go through the car wash after driving in the country."

"Go to Finns, they'll be right at the edge of town."

"Will do, I gotta go."

"Okay, and both hands on the wheel, I don't want to see your moms car overturned on the 8 o'clock news tonight."

She smiled, "If you're lucky they'll be playing old reruns from when you were a wanted man, both times."

They both hung up shaking their heads. Paige slowed down as she came to a really twisty part of the highway, the car behind her doing the same. Every time she sped up or switched lanes that Civic stuck to her like flies to sticky paper.

.

Stiles head fell back as he laid down on his best friends bed.

"At least take your cleats off man." Scott complained.

Stiles groaned sitting up, clearly in pain for the look on his face, "That is the last time I train with you. I'm going with Danny from now on."

"If you were with Danny, you'd still be out training."

"Yes but Danny takes breaks, a word that I know is not in your vocabulary."

Scott shook his head, Lacrosse started up in a couple more days and he was excited. Even when they were both human, lacrosse was something he and Stiles did together.

"But now we got the whole night ahead of us." Scott pealed off his shit and threw it onto his friends face.

Stiles removed the cloth, his eyes roaming around the familiar room. "Do you really think Beacon hills is going to be trouble free for a while?"

"I hope so." Scott shrugged, "But Beacon hills didn't get that name by accident, this place will always attract the unnatural. But a little break will be nice, no matter how long."

"Yeah."

.

Derek walked around his loft, he'd spent the morning with Peter but it was enough and he was ready for Paige to be home. When she called him earlier he was so sure she was calling to tell him she'd ran out of gas again. Only because of the bragging rights was he disappointed she had only called to check in.

When her name flashed up on his phone a little over thirty minutes later he shook his head, "Hello."

"Derek?" Paige's voice shook, that was the first hint to Derek that something was very wrong. "Do you believe in ghosts?"

"Excuse me?" That wasn't what he expected.

"I lied before when I called. There had been this blue Civic following me since I hit mile marker twelve, I thought they'd been following me. After I hung up we drove another quarter mile before they speed past me and they drove right off the cliff."

"What? Are you okay." He snapped.

"No, yes, they Derek the car it was gone."

Derek listened past his girlfriends erratic breathing and heard sirens in the background along with other voices in the back ground.

"Where are you now?"

"I called the police when the car went over, I couldn't see anything. It's like it vanished."

"I hear sirens." He added.

"There was some kind of accident that came over the radios, it came in after they lectured me on how prank calls weren't funny. But Derek I'm not joking around with you. Look I have to go the paramedics want to check me out."

"Paige."

"There is nothing wrong with me, I'll be home soon."

Derek heard the line disconnect then, he couldn't do anything but stand there with his phone to his ear.

.

Paige messaged Derek when she got back to her place, she needed to drop her moms car off and double check that everything in her house was turned off and where it needed to be. With her driving back to school the next day the house was going to be very dark for a while.

Locking the front door, Derek's camaro pulled into her driveway at the same time, his built body climbing out of the drivers seat moments after. Paige noticed his eyes scanning, like they usually did when they reunited, him checking in to make sure she was okay.

He pulled her into a tight embrace when they reached each other. Lips in her hair he asked "What happened?"

"The Civic was following me for miles, suddenly it sped up and passed me before driving straight off the cliff. There was no crash site, there wasn't anything."

He held her arms when they untangled, "Maybe you-"

"I wasn't the only one there. The other driver on the highway pulled over next to me, she saw it too."

Looking down Derek tired to think so some reason both women would have seen the same explainable event, but he couldn't. What Paige was describing only happens in movies... Or Beacon hills."

"I even tested the area before the cops showed up. I looked for anything Derek anything." She paused and licked her lips. "Look I know I sound nuts okay but you don't have to look at me like I just did a 4 month stint in Eichen House." She pulled her arms out of his grasp and marched toward his car, climbing into the passenger seat.

After standing there a couple seconds more Derek followed, climbing into his own seat.

"You aren't nuts. You saw something that you can't explain. But that doesn't mean someone else can't."

"The vet?" Paige assumed.

"No, Peter."

Paige's head dropped back onto the head rest, "Seriously?"

"He's been around a long time, he use to tell me stories when I was younger about this sort of thing, I'm thinking he could help."

Paige raised her eyebrows, "So could a certain spastic high schooler we know."


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

Derek messaged Peter to meet them at the loft, he was inside waiting when they arrived, clearly making himself at home from the cup of coffee in his hand.

"You got here fast." Derek said noticing his uncle.

"Color me interested, I don't get invited places very often."

'I wonder why' Paige thought to herself, having a Stiles moment.

"Paige saw something strange on her ride home, reminded me of those stories you use to tell me about the men on horses."

Peter's ears seemed to perk up at that. "Ghost riders." He said to himself.

"What?" Paige stepped forward.

"The ghost riders were group of faceless men on horses- they travel between the dimensions of the living and the dead."

"Even is someone had a heart attack in that car and drove off the cliff, there would still be wreckage." Paige sighed, her brain felt like it was melting.

Peter continued, out loud while in thought, "But you can only see them if you've been-"

"It was an echo!" Stiles announced bursting thought the doors to the loft, a stack of papers in his hands.

"What are you talking about?" Derek sighed.

"When a traumatic event happens, usually related to someones death, death echos can be left behind."

Paige squinted, "So what I saw today was a death echo?" Even after all these years of supernatural encounters, she still found his hard to believe.

"Look." Stiles said throwing down all the papers in his hand and pulling out an old news paper. "Mr and Mrs Weltch were involved in a fatal accident when their car drove off a cliff while going 30 over the speed limit. There were no signs the driver had tried to break before going over the edge, their bodies were bloated from waiting for rescue, however the impact of the car hitting the water and lack of water in the lungs, provides ME's with enough evidence to assume they couple died on impact." Stiles read aloud.

"That's the car that was following me."

"That's not good." Peter added from his spot on the stairs.

Derek rolled his shoulders to release the tension in his shoulders, Paige noticed he did that a lot when his uncle was around.

"Do you have something to say?" Derek asked.

Peter looked at Paige, his eyes scanning her. The younger girl shifted uncomfortably under his gaze. Paige had known Peter almost as long as she'd known Derek, the two didn't really get along, but Paige always had more patience with him than Derek did.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

Stiles pipped up, "Seriously dude, it's creepy."

Turning his gaze to Derek, he asked, "Does Paige have any weird markings on her skin, they'd be paler than scars. It was be almost impossible for the human eye to catch if it didn't know what to look for."

Paige blushed, but crossed her arms to see less bothered by Peters knowledge of their love life. Derek and her were both adults who'd been mostly together since their school days, it was to be expected that they'd had sex. But Paige's blush came from the fact that on more than once Peter had been in wolf hearing distance from the house they the pair would find moments for alone time in high school.

Paige was caught up in her own thoughts, she almost didn't notice how her boyfriend shifted uncomfortably beside her.

"What does it mean?" Derek asked, his jaw working itself over.

Did that mean he had seen some kind of mark like that on her body?

"Like I was trying to sat before, ghost riders are not ones to go parading around slowing their existence to anyone, unless that person has seen them before."

Everyone's eyes fell on her but Paige shook her head, "I think I'd remember seeing creepy guys on horses running around."

Peter shook his head, "You wouldn't remember, they only appear to though who are in between."

"Like people in comas?" Stiles asked.

The older wolf responded with a nod, "Tho who are in limbo and need an extra push toward death. The ghost riders take them away, no one who has ever seen them had lived."

"Well I've never been in a coma before so-"

"But you did try to kill yourself." Peter interrupted bluntly.

Paige raised her pointer finger at him, as Derek growled, "Watch it."

"I did not try to kill myself, I was never in a coma after that. I woke up on the beach for a couple minutes before being taken to the hospital. I never say anyone horse back riding down the beach."

Peter let his hands fall to his sides, "Then some other time then, think about it."

Stiles scoffed, "I think something as traumatic as almost dying wouldn't be easily forgotten Peter, you have some experience in the field of dying, you should already know this."

"There is one way to find out." Peter ignored the young boy and flashed his claws to the group.

Derek spoke up then, "What have I told you about that!"

"Right now your girlfriend is being hunted by a group of-"

"Woah!" Stiles interjected, "You never said anything about Paige being hunted."

Peter glared, "Maybe if someone wasn't interrupting me every time I open my mouth, I could have gotten to that part."

Derek clarified, "You're saying the reason Paige saw that death echo is because the ghost riders are coming after her."

"First creepy best friend older brothers, then a psycho ex, now invisible dudes riding horses. What is next? Freaking skeletons."

"Actually burserkers came and went while you were in exams." Stiles watched as Derek glared at him, "What I'm just saying they did wear animal skulls on their faces."

Paige ran fingers through her hair, "That doesn't even matter, you said they were hunting me?" Peter nodded, "Why now?"

Derek's hand appeared on her hip, "It doesn't matter, pack your things, we are getting you out of Beacon hills tonight."

"They aren't trapped here Derek." Peter childed. "They'll follow her."

"Which is why I'll be staying with her, until you guys figure out how to kill them." He turned back to Paige and pushed her toward the stairs. "You have 10 minutes."

"Ghost riders are not alive-"

Stiles once again butted in while Peter was speaking, "Yeah it's kind of in the title 'Ghost rider'."

"I don't care what they're called or what it takes. You take them out before they take her out, if not? I won't be coming back here to give you a 'thanks for trying' pat on the back."

The threat was clear, Stiles shuttered but gave him a thumbs up. Derek didn't wait a second more before climbing the stairs to his bedroom. He heard Stiles mention something about calling Scott before he tunes him out completely.

"You won't be able to stay with me on campus, I have a roommate." Paige watched as Derek pack some of his things into a duffel bag.

"We are going to stop half way and stay in that old bed and breakfast we found the first time we road tripped down there, I'll get an off campus apartment for us to live in until everything gets figured out."

"It's not too late, I could ask to be deferred till next semester."

The wolf shook his head. "Getting out of Beacon hills won't solve our problems, but it will distance us from them. At least for a little while."

"I've thought about what Peter said, I had to have been close to death when the ghost riders came for me. I know they weren't there that day on the beach. I can't call my mom because the rehab place won't allow it until she's been their for 78 hours. There is someone else that could help us though."

"Peter is not sinking his claws into your neck Paige, I've already told you."

Paige stood, "I know, but there is a certain vet in town who always seems to have a trick or two."

.

That's how Paige and Derek ended up at the beacon hills vet clinic in the middle of the afternoon. The vet had been waiting for them, Scott having called ahead to tell him to expect visitors.

After explaining all her knew Derek asked, "Anything you can do?"

"It's not so much that the ghost riders stole your memories of them, they are somewhere in that head of yours we just need to pull them forward. There is one thing that has worked in the past."

"Ice bath." Derek said, remembering when Boyd and Erica went missing a couple years ago, the vet had put Issac into an ice bath in order to recall his memories of finding his pack mates.

"That sounds pleasant." Paige muttered. "I think I'd almost rather be stabbed by a set of claws."

Derek also remembered, "It came with it's own risks."

The vet nodded then turned to the girl beside him. "Your heart rate has to be very slow, almost stopped. That's a risk in it's own, however you crossing over into that plain with draw the ghost riders here. If you are gone for too long they will not hesitate to take you."

Derek clenched his fists but waited to see what Paige thought of what she'd just heard.

"If we are going to find dome way of stopping them, we need to know why they came for me in the first place."

Derek nodded but decided, "No matter if you get to that memory or not, the second your heart beat is too slow I will pull you out."

Paige nodded, removing her jacket from her shoulders and everything in her pockets.

"Let's do this."

 **Another chapter, lookie at that. Hope you liked it :)**


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

 **lol it's like every plot i like from teen wolf, I twisting it to fit my story and character I want it to fit. You'll see what I mean in chapter 18**

The metal tub was filled up with cold water, Paige walked over to it dipping her fingers under the surface.

"Is doesn't seem that cold." Paige muttered to Derek.

When she looked over her shoulder waiting for a response she saw Derek trying to hide a smirk, but the smile didn't reach his eyes, those reflected his worry.

The vet came back into the room carrying bags of ice, "that's because I haven't put these in yet."

Paige licked her lips, she was doing this, she could stand to be cold to get the truth. Derek pulled her toward himself but kept a couple inches separat them.

"This is a bad idea, despite me tell you this, I know you're going to step into that ice bath any minute."

She smiled at him, "Awe you do know me."

He rolled his eyes, his hands falling to her shoulders and turning her toward the ice bath, he felt her shiver at the sight but let his arms swing to his sides as she stepped toward the metal tub.

The vet spoke again, "I will be the only one talking to you, but Derek will have a physical connection to you the full time. He's your anchor, the person you need to focus on to come back. Good luck."

Quickly Paige disroabbed, taking off her hoodie and shorts. At least at the end of this she have dry clothes to change into. Rolling them up and tossing them on a nearby exam table before facing her task.

Paige gripped the sides of the tub as she stepped in, her body immediately wanting her to step out. Forcing her limbs to cooperate Paige managed to sit in the water, her hands still holding the edge to keep her in the tub.

The vet and Derek shared a look, the wolf walking to the other side of Paige. Reaching the head of the tub he put his hands on her shoulders, where they'd been moments before.

"You're body is going to panic after you are pushed under the water, your lungs will want air. As soon as your heart rate slows, your mind will give up control and your subconscious will take over. This allows your mind to travel back to memories that might be repressed."

"No offence, but m-my ass is fucking freezing right now. Can we g-get this thing started."

The vet smiled "Of course." He turned to the man beside him. "When you're ready."

"Relax." Derek muttered, his hands giving Paige's shoulders a reassuring squeeze before he pushed her under.

Derek remembered when Isaac had been the one being pushed under, the young wolf had fought and squirmed. Paige didn't do any of that, her stillness frightened him. Her heart beat was all he focused on, it was the only thing that mattered. If he pulled her back after it stopped beating it would be too late, he wasn't going to let that happen.

"Gently let her float to the surface without letting her go."

Derek followed the instruction, as soon as Paige's mouth and nose breached the surface of the water she drew in a breath.

"Let's begin. Paige can you hear me?"

Her voice was trance like as she responded, "I can hear you."

"Good. I want you to think back to when you saw the men on horses."

"The ghost riders."

"Yes the ghost riders, do you see them?"

Paige didn't respond, her brow frowned and her body trembled.

"Paige can you see the ghost riders?" He repeated.

"S-so co-ld."

Derek looked at Deaton. "Is that normal?" Thinking she was reacting to the ice bath she was currently submerged in.

The vet shook his head. "Why are you cold Paige?"

"The water-" Derek gulped, had Paige actually died the night she'd walked into the ocean. "I wasn't who they needed."

"Paige-"

Deaton tried to ask another question but she wasn't done. "I was so dar-k, I didn't want to play."

"Paige I want you to look around, what do you see?"

"Trees and a bridge, she's looking at me but she's not blinking, her lips are blue."

"Who's lips are blue?" No response. "Is she dead?"

Paige whimpered at the sight of her best friend, soaked and water logged. Derek winched at the amount of pain behind the noise.

"My head is throbbing, I want to dye too." She seemed to choke on water even when Derek knows her mouth hasn't slipped bellow the water line.

"You are okay Paige, it's just a memory, you aren't really drowning. Take a deep breath."

"I want to go home."

Deaton straightened up, "You wake up in 3,2,1." He snapped his fingers together, then turned to Derek. "She'll remain in a state of shock as she warms up, wrap her in that towel, she'll be coherent soon."

"We still don't know anything." Derek said, while pulling Paige from the tub.

"But she does."

.

Paige shivered hard, her mind was telling her she was cold and how she could really feel it, her limbs felt tingly.

"She's waking up." She heard her boyfriends voice before she saw him.

"Welcome back." Deaton said, strolling back into the room. "How's your head."

Paige licked her lips, "Clear."

Derek released her to retrieve her dry clothes she'd abandoned earlier. "Put these on and then you can talk."

The vet pointed toward a bathroom and handed Paige a plastic bag to put her wet clothes in. When she was all dry she walked back into the room, giving the tub a wide birth, feeling the chill from it.

"Tell us what you remember." Deaton encouraged.

"I was at a sleepover at my best friends house, her brother woke me in the middle of the night. It was fall but he said I wouldn't need my jacket, he'd keep me safe from the cold. I followed him, we walked for a long time and I'd gotten cold. When I tried to turn back he grabbed me and dragged me deep into the Forrest that was behind their house."

"When we got to the bridge that goes over the river he stopped and let me go. My body was so numb from the cold I couldn't stand and I feel, hitting my head. I woke up to muffled yelling however long later. I was freezing and my pj's were soaked, my head hurt where I'd hit it during my fall. I remember the sounds of horses I was confused why anyone would be ridding horses because it was so cold out. I looked up and Theo was there yelling. He said "what more did they want, he brother them a healthy girl." I couldn't hear the other side to the conversation."

Derek's jaw rocked and his hands balled into fists, "This is the night he killed his sister. That piece of shit, he's lucky he left town when he did or I swear-" He was so mad he couldn't even finish the threat.

"I remember her showing up."

"Theo's sister." The vet added, Paige nodded.

"She was cying, and he was crying. They fought with each other, at some point she ended up next to me, but I was pulled from the water not too long after. then I remember police and paramedics fussing over me." Paige shook her head coming out of her memory. "He was going to use me to become what he is, give me up to the dread doctors."

"Son of a bitch." Derek growled under his breath, pulling Paige closer to him and tighter into the blanket surrounding her body. "Technically one life was traded for another, they still got the soul so why are they coming after her now?"

"I'm not sure." Deaton rubbed his head, "Theo sacrificed Paige so he wouldn't have to kill his sister. You said you heard the horses before your friend showed up?" Paige nodded. "You were already their soul, almost gone, maybe you were also supposed to die that night. Theo must have pulled you out, if he couldn't keep his sister he would still have you."

"Why not get ride of us both. I knew what he'd done but-"

"You were young, traumatized, and your memories were tampered with, it kept you from seeing the real truth. No matter how hard you looked into that night, the truth was always a lie."

"How do we get them to leave her alone?" Derek asked.

"You can't, her soul was theirs and then it was ripped away. They'll come for it."

"It's inevitable." Paige muttered to Derek.

"No, no it isn't. He live in beacon fucking hills." He's voice was desperate, she couldn't leave him now after everything! "What if her soul was changed."

Deaton squinted, he seemed to know what Derek was hinting at, "It's possible, she would be a different being' her soul altered. You'd be willing to do that?"

"I could lose her anyway!"

Paige, who's mind was still a little slow bouncing back, tried to keep up. "Calm down." She rubbed Derek's arm with her cold hand, that seemed to upset him more.

"It's not just your risk, Paige needs to be part of this decision. I'm going to give you guys the room to talk." The vet nodded at both of them before walking into his back office, closing the door and blinds.

"Derek I know this is hard but we can't cheat death again. The ghost riders aren't going to let that happen."

"I won't let them take you."

Paige grabbed his hands to make him face her, "And I won't let you get killed the the process of saving me."

"I always knew the bite came with a risk, Scott survived, Isaac survived, Boyd and Erica, maybe you could too."

Now she caught on. "Woah, slow down."

"Your soul will be changed Paige, they can't take it after that because it would no longer be the one they lost."

"You've always avoid this conversation."

"Before it was an unnecessary risk."

Paige took a deep breath, "Let's say you bite me and I don't make it-"

"Paige!"

"It's a possibility Derek, you could still lose me."

This time her name was a whimper on his lips, he was scared and vulnerable and she just wanted to make it better; but she couldn't.

"There are no other options, I can't kill them. It's not a choice of you or them, it's just you. How and I supposed to fight that?"

"So you bite me. I've always been jealous of your eyes." she said softly, making a poor joke.

"I can't save you from this one. I can't bring you back."

Deaton walked swiftly out of his office, "I just got off the phone with my niece, there might be one more alternative."


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

Paige crossed her arms, "How would I turn back? Or am I just stuck going through puberty for a second time?"

Deaton shook his head, "Assuming the legend connected to the temple is even true. I don't know how young it will make you, I believe it'll take you back to a time before your soul was tarnished and thereby, before your soul-"

"Before her soul was tainted by her death." Derek finished. "It could work."

Paige scoffed, "or you could also be stuck babysitting your girlfriend for the rest of your life."

"Just until you were 18." Stiles said playing with some of the vet equipment that was laying out.

Paige knew she'd need some help so she called her friends to meet them at the vet clinic. Scott, Malia, Stiles and Isaac had shown up a couple minutes ago. Lydia would have came but Paige knew she was dealing with some family drama right now and didn't want to intrude.

Derek turned on him, his eyes glowing gold as he let out a low growl.

Paige put a hand on her boyfriends arm and rolled her eyes at her friend, "Not helping."

Stiles shrugged and went to stand beside Scott.

"Even if after a while we were able to bring me back to normal, wouldn't my soul go back to normal too?"

Everyone looked back at Deaton, "I don't think so, the people who use these temples millions of years ago, use it to wash away their sins before death. Holding to the belief that when their soul was pure, god granted them a second chance to live their life."

Isaac nodded along, "Like reincarnation."

"Exactly.

Paige bit her lip, "Well I don't want to relieve my formative years-"

"You won't know."

"Excuse me." Paige's eyes widened at his words.

"Your body and soul isn't the only thing being rejuvenated. You're mind will also follow."

"So I won't remember anyone in this room... This is becoming less and less of a positive solution."

"It's a good thing, because these people in your life now are going to be the ones who bring you back."

Derek was also skeptical, "She was barely out of elementary when she drowned, do you really think a 11 year old is going to stop screaming 'kidnapped' before we get a chance to convince her of all this. I hardly believe it."

"I guess you'll find out. I'll have Bradan take you there, if this is what you decide."

Scott stepped up, feeling the shift in the weather, the ghost riders were close by. "I don't think there is time."

Derek and Paige locked eyes, it was be bitten or get sent back to elementary. They both knew which one they were going with. Being stuck as an adolescent was best case scenario. At least there was no doubt in her survival.

Paige turned to Deaton, "How fast can she get here?"

.

Paige looked into the side view mirror of Derek's car and sighed, Stiles jeep was close behind them as they drove a narrow road in the middle of nowhere.

"What?" Derek asked her.

"I can't believe we are dragging them all out into the middle a desert in Mexico."

"They would have come even if you didn't ask. They care about you, as much as I hated having them around in the beginning. It's good to have back up in these situations."

"I know. Braden seems cool too." Paige nodded toward the women on the motorcycle in from of them.

"The vet trusts her, doesn't mean we shouldn't keep an eye on her."

Paige rolled her eyes, "Seriously? Why'd you let her come then, we could have gotten directions."

"It would have taken longer, we had to get you out of Beacon hills."

"You are so paranoid."

"Cautious."

Paige hid her laugh with a cough and looked down. "If that's your story."

Derek gave her a sideways glance, he noticed her playing with the hair elastic on her wrist, reaching over her put his right hand on her thigh. He waited till she looked up at him to talk.

"You're nervous."

"I've faced a lot scarier things than my youth, at least my mom isn't around to worry about. I sent her an email earlier to tell her I was going camping with everyone before going back to campus and might not get cell reception."

"We'll get you back." He squeezed her thigh in reassurance. "I knew it when we were what? 15, 16? I'm sure I can handle 11 year old Paige for a couple days."

"I go into that temple knowing my friends have my back, I come out to a group of strangers. All the people I knew when I was 11 are either dead or in rehab, I'm going to be alone. I won't even have my house."

The group were planning living arrangements for Paige once she was 11, she'd need to be with one or more of then at all times and her old house was ruled out. Nothing there would really look the same on the inside as it did over 10 years ago, plus there would be pictures of adult Paige around which would be too much.

"You knew sheriff Stalinski growing up, Stiles already has the guest room ready for you and his dad knows you'll be staying there. We have at least another couple hours to go, you should get some sleep."

"I don't think that's going to happen."

"Try."

After a while Derek noticed Braden's bike pulling over to the side of the road, looking around he didn't see anything but followed her lead. The blue jeep behind him doing the same.

"Paige?" He rubbed her arm.

Her eyes fluttered open, her hand coming up to protect her eyes, the sun was just starting to set.

Everyone got out of their cars and walked toward Braden who was standing near the cliff face.

"Are we close? Why'd we stop?" Malia asked.

Braden turned to face the group, "You have about a 20 minute walk down these cliffs here, the temple will be on the other side."

"That's a long way down." Stiles mutter getting close to the edge and kicking a small rock off, watching it fall.

"It's the only way." She replied shrugging.

Derek cleared his throat, "She need to get in there before the sun sets completely, let's get moving."

Everyone started to move forward but Breaden. "This is as far as I go, stay close to the cliff and you shouldn't fall."

"Oh gets tip thanks." Stiles snipped sarcastically.

Derek nodded at her in thanks before taking his first step down the small walkway along the cliff. The sound of a bike starting up filled their ears and disappeared as they approached the bottom.

"Woah." Scott said as they group stood in from of the temple.

"Intimidating." Paige said.

"There is probably bats in there."

Everyone looked at Stiles.

"I hope not. I don't have a hoodie." Paige said. "Deaton said the room was in the back and too the right. How deep do you think this thing goes?"

She knew the wolves would be able to smell how nervous she was, but she appreciated that they didn't comment on it.

Derek's hand found the small of her back. "We'll keep the flashlights out here to keep whatever might be out here away, I'll walk you in." His eyes glowing as he spoke.

Paige nodded, giving each of her friends a hug before letting her boyfriend lead her into the darkness.

By the time Derek and Paige found the room the sun had completely set, the room was pitch black and there was a door with what looked like old writing on it.

"Okay." Paige said shaking her arms out.

"There is a stone table inside." Derek told her knowing she couldn't see.

Reaching her arms out Paige turned and felt the Derek's hands find hers. Stepping forward she pulled him down into a kiss, knowing it would be the last one they'd get to have for a while.

"I'll be listening for outside, anything happens you yell for me."

Paige nodded and turned back toward the opening of the room, "I have to do this now."

Derek helped her to the stone slab and took one last look at her before walking out of the room, closing the door behind him. At the moment Paige took a shaky breath causing him to freeze, Derek didn't want to leave her alone but Deaton was clear. Only one person was allowed in the temple at a time. So he turned and walked out to join the rest of them outside.

.

The night was long and turned bitter cold at one point, the only person that was a problem for was Stiles and Malia. The two curling up next the the cliff side to get away from the biting wind, on the other hand Scoot and Derek stayed close to the opening of the temple.

It wasn't till the sun started to rise and keep over the cliff that they heard anything from inside. The temple seemed to rattle, a couple small rocks falling from the top, causing everyone to stand from their spots. After a couple seconds it stopped and Scott and Derek locked eyes as if to confirm they weren't the only one to hear it.

The noise was small, sounding like a scared whimper and while it didn't sound like their Paige it most definitely came from a young female.

 **That is all for now :) Thanks for reading.**


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